Navigating sustainability: measurement, evaluation and action

[摘要] Key messages:A short version of this report, entitled Designing for action: principles of effective sustainability measurement, has been published by the World Economic Forum and can be found at http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GAC/2013/WEF_GAC_MeasuringSustainability__PrinciplesEffectiveSustainabilityMeasurement_SummaryReport_2013.pdf.We provide here a short summary of 5 key messages.1. There are many approaches to assessing sustainability, and the field is evolving rapidly. Consensus is emerging that characterising the functioning of the physical, ecological, and social systems which support human life and understanding the interactions between these systems are fundamental.The understanding and practice of sustainability have flourished over the two decades since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Many insights from the first decade have been translated into tools and approaches for policy makers, businesses, and other decision makers. The science of sustainability has continued to develop, often in response to weaknesses or gaps in the earlier concepts and analysis. More recent contributions are recognised by business and policy, but tools and implementation pathways are not yet mature.Different approaches to assessing and implementing sustainability have different strengths, weaknesses, and applications. The diversity of these approaches can be very confusing.Sustainable development and sustainability mean different things to different people, and vary across different contexts. This means that creating workable operational tools for assessing and promoting sustainability will always require judgments that are subject to legitimate debate. Even with widely accepted definitions for sustainability and sustainable development, the central questions of ‘sustaining what, for whom, where, and for how long?’ remain laden with human values and social choices. These values and choices are very context-specific and therefore differ across time, space, and culture.The evolution of sustainability science and application, from early days through to contemporary approaches, is reviewed and summarised in this report. Contemporary thinking recognises that socio-ecological systems are complex and highly dynamic, often under increasing interacting pressures, and undergoing increasingly rapid change. This is placing stress on the minimum level of ecosystem function needed to underpin human well-being in the future. In some cases, social and economic capacity to maintain future well-being is also under threat.2. Sustainability measurement systems are effective when they are embedded firmly in management and decision‑making processes that promote learning.Data and measurement are crucial, but are insufficient alone for assessing sustainability and enhancing sustainable outcomes. Improved understanding is needed to motivate and guide changes in practices and behaviour. This implies that measuring sustainability will be most effective when measurement and evaluation are understood as part of a wider iterative process of learning and acting.We identify four key building blocks as essential:Institutional mechanisms: the formal and informal rules that provide the governance, oversight and stability necessary to implement the sustainability frameworkData - specification, collection, analysis and the use of projections: data, which can consist of measurements, modelled interpolations or projections, are used as the basis for evaluationEvaluation: interpreting the meaning or value of the data in relation to agreed sustainability objectivesFeedbacks: flow of information or action between components of the framework, including catalysing changes that promote sustainability.To be effective in achieving sustainability, these four elements need to be addressed and linked across a range of scales. Greater availability of data will only be effective for sustainability if it is used within such an approach.Recognising the four buil...

[发布日期] 2013-11-19 [发布机构] CSIRO

[学科分类] 地球科学(综合)