The City of Barcelona (Spain), received international recognition for its Agenda 21 Schools Programme when it scooped the Dubai International Award at the end of 2010. The ICLEI member introduced the Barcelona Schools Agenda 21 Programme in 2000 to support school centres so that they can design, carry out and appraise plans of action with the aim of become more sustainable.

This pioneering initiative was the first of its kind in the country and the programme has now spread to other towns in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Latin America. Schools are seen as an extremely important element in the advance towards more sustainable cities, as they both educate pupils and have a multiplying effect on the community, especially in families. During the 2010-2011 school year alone, the Programme directly involved more than 80,000 pupils, 7,500 teachers and over 60,000 families.

Hundreds of projects related to a diverse range of subjects such as energy and water savings, noise reduction, paper conservation, waste prevention, composting, sustainable mobility and biodiversity have been implemented. The Dubai International Award recognises the best practices, which have a positive impact on improving the living environment. Barcelona was one of the three European winners, with the Municipal Climate Change Plan in Noain, Valle de Elorz (Spain) and a Bulgarian project entitled, Composting: a Livelihood for the Roma (Gypsy) Ethnic Minority in a small city also recognised.

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