Sustainable Bonn
Bonn is not only home to sustainable organizations, it is also active in its own right
Bukhara in Uzbekistan, Cape Coast in Ghana and La Paz in Bolivia are just three of the cities all over the world that are twinned with Bonn. What is special about them is that they have all committed themselves to sustainability, just like the city of Bonn itself has. They share ideas and knowledge about everything from renewable energies to disaster management. “We will only be able to meet the global challenges facing us if we work together at the local and international level”, says Stefan Wagner who heads the City of Bonn’s Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability. The idea is for Bonn to pass on its knowledge – and acquire new knowledge in return. The city is an active member of the Climate Alliance of Cities and of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), a worldwide association of cities and local governments dedicated to environmental protection and sustainable development.
Many NGOs are drawn to this city on the Rhine
The term “sustainability” covers a multitude of issues in Bonn, including the environment and development as well as health, with many national and international actors in the fields of politics, business and academia to be found in the city, such as the United Nations, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO).
The foundation stone for the City of Bonn becoming Germany’s centre for sustainability was laid in the mid-1990s: the Berlin/Bonn Act, which regulated the German government’s move from Bonn to Berlin, stipulates that the city on the River Rhine is to be developed as a centre for development policy. Ever since, more and more institutions and organizations have been relocating to Bonn. “NGOs above all”, says Harald Ganns, a United Nations senior adviser, “and although the odd one moves to Berlin, the bottom line is still that more relocate here than move away.”
