UBC A21 Action Programme 2004 – 2009 - Roadmap for Sustainable Baltic Cities 

The VII General Conference of the Union of the Baltic Cities, Klaipėda 17-18 October 2003, approved the new UBC Strategy and the Roadmap for Sustainable Baltic Cities – UBC Agenda 21 Action Programme 2004-2009. This action programme implements the UBC Strategy with regard to sustainable urban development. The implementation of the programme has made a strong start. Good services for cities are on offer – including possibilities to join new projects.

The interests and needs of Baltic cities were the most important factor in the design of the new program. The implementation is a joint effort of all UBC bodies and members. Especially strong roles have currently been assumed by the commissions on environment, urban planning, social and health affairs and transport.

The programme concentrates on five thematic focus areas and mobilises a total budget of 10 million euros. The focus themes are:

1. Good governance and sustainable urban management
2. Sustainable use of energy and resources
3. Good living environment and nature protection
4. Sustainable economy and transport
5. Social integration and health.

All of these five themes are crucial for sustainable development in cities, and the cities also have powers and means to address them.

The most important tool in the programme are projects that contribute to the thematic focus areas. At the moment, several projects are running within the programme and the mobilised budget already exceeds 10 MEUR. The largest on-going projects are the Managing Urban Europe-25, the BUSTRIP, SUSTAINMENT and MATRUSCHKA.

New projects are currently under planning and interested cities are welcomed to contact the programme management agency (UBC EnvCom Secretariat). The UBC programme has a strong commitment towards open governance. In practice this means, that we welcome all partner organisations, other co-operation partners and stakeholders to shape the activities and implement the program together with us.