A panel discussion and a kick-off workshop with the selected model communities on December 4, 2019 provided key impetus for the launch of the project Palatinate Forest: SDG model region for a sustainable Rhineland-Palatinate.
A total of eight different communes (the cities of Pirmasens, Neustadt and Bad Bergzabern, the municipalities of Lambrecht and Maikammer and the local communities of Sippersfeld, Kallstadt and Klingenmünster) are involved in the project. At the workshop, their representatives discussed with the biosphere reserve administration Pfälzerwald and Engagement Global not only the procedure in the two-year model project but also strengths, weaknesses and initial needs for action with regard to the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The subsequent press conference and panel discussion was attended by Rhineland-Palatinate's Environment Minister Ulrike Höfken, representatives of the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economics, the Palatinate District Association as the sponsor of the biosphere reserve, and the Service Agency for Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global. The participants agreed on the challenges such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and maintaining a high quality of life and saw great opportunities in the joint development of sustainable projects and the benefits of implementing the SDGs for the people in the participating communities.
The IfLS, together with the consultancy office KOBRA from Landau, is commissioned to support the project office at the biosphere reserve, among other things, with the preparation of status analyses of the model communities and the organisation of future workshops and network meetings. In this way, sustainability strategies are developed for each community, which are oriented towards the SDGs.
Further information:
SDG model region for a sustainable Rhineland-Palatinate (German)
Global Sustainable Community in Rhineland-Palatinate (German)
Contact persons at IfLS: Dr Ulrich Gehrlein (gehrlein[at]ifls.de) and Dr Marie Sophie Schmidt (schmidt[at]ifls.de)
