ICLEI and Local Government: What It Is, Why You’ve Never Heard of It, and Why It Matters in Small Towns Like Peachland

by Nick M. Walsh - Peachland Resident

A quick promise before we start

This is not a “climate debate” article.

You can be strongly pro-environment, strongly skeptical of climate politics, or somewhere in the middle and still agree on one basic principle:

Local government should be governed by local voters through elected council, not by default templates and administrative systems imported from outside.

That is the real issue.

What is ICLEI

ICLEI stands for “Local Governments for Sustainability.” It is a global network that works with thousands of local and regional governments worldwide. ICLEI itself describes its network as working with more than 2,500 local and regional governments.

ICLEI does not pass laws. It cannot compel your municipality to do anything by force.

Instead, its influence comes from something much more practical:

It provides ready-made frameworks, plans, tools, metrics, and programs that municipal staff can adopt and build into the machinery of local government.

ICLEI Canada operates as a national link to this global network.