The implementation of local sustainable development project in Taiwan was initialized in 2004 by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) through subsidizing 10 cities/counties to carry out the project. In 2005, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) became the central competent authority of Local sustainable development and responsible for administering and subsidizing cities and counties in implementation of local sustainable development project. At the end of 2008, a total of 24 out of 25 cities and counties have successfully implemented the project. There are 2 main tasks in this project which includes the evaluation and revision on the implementation mechanism and performances of the local sustainable development projects, and the formulation of the suitable local sustainable development indicators. Regarding the evaluation and revision of the local sustainable development mechanism, the project team surveyed the current status of implementation in the 24 cities and counties and collected 9 case studies of successful implementation of local sustainable development project overseas. 4 sessions of expert consultation meetings were held to examine the existing implementation mechanism with suggested revisions in the areas of legislation, organization, procedure and strategy. Concerning the formulation of assessment indicators for local sustainable development, the project team compared 5 different indicator systems with the annual statistical data published by the Directorate-general of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan and identified 27 quantifiable indicators. 3 sessions of expert consultation meetings were held to examine the feasibility of performance evaluation through the above mentioned indicators. Suggestions were also given on the complete local sustainable development scheme which includes performance indicators (which is subdivided into core and optional indicators), public survey, implementation evaluation and onsite visits. Besides the 10 expert consultation meetings held, the project also organized 2 workshops were organized to explain and discuss the research results with the responsible person from different cities and counties.

Sustainable Development, Indicator, Local