Download or read book Sustainability Indicators written by Simon Bell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-04 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for the first edition: 'This book should be of interest to anyone interested in sustainable development, and especially sustainability indicators. Bell and Morse easily succeed in exposing the fundamental paradoxes of these concepts and, more importantly, they offer us a way forward. Readers ... will find their practical recommendations for those attempting to do sustainability analysis in the field most welcome, which is also the book's greatest strength.' Local Environment: The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability 'This book makes a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of using indicators for sustainability. It introduces systems ideas and a range of tools and techniques that have the potential to broaden and deepen our understanding of a whole range of complex situations. Well worth a closer look.' Christine Blackmore, Open University 'This is a book that explores new ways of thinking about how to measure sustainability... It offers stimulating food for thought for environmental educators and researchers.' Environmental Education Research 'This book tells me, as an SI 'practitioner', where I have been and why, and more importantly how I should be thinking in order to effectively present to and empower the local community in the years ahead.' David Ellis, Principal Pollution Monitoring Officer, Norwich City Council 'A practical guide to the development of sustainability indicators which offers a systemic and participative way to use them at local scale. Our preliminary results are highly positive and the approach is applicable in many contexts.' Elisabeth Coudert, Programme Officer Prospective and Regional Development, Blue Plan The groundbreaking first edition of Sustainability Indicators reviewed the development and value of sustainability indicators and discussed the advantage of taking a holistic and qualitative approach rather than focusing on strictly quantitative measures. In the new edition the authors bring the literature up to date and show that the basic requirement for a systemic approach is now well grounded in the evidence. They examine the origins and development of Systemic Sustainability Analysis (SSA) as a theoretical approach to sustainability which has been developed in practice in a number of countries on an array of projects since the first edition. They look at how SSA has evolved into the practical approaches of Systemic Prospective Sustainability Analysis (SPSA) and IMAGINE, and, in particular, how a wide range of participatory methodologies have been adopted over the years. They also provide an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of projects that undertake work in the general field of sustainable development.
Download or read book Perceptions and Indicators of Sustainable Development written by Kim Yvonne Hiller Connell and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sustainability Assessment written by Alan James Bond and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Currently the writing on the subject is limited and comprises, for the most part, guidance documents and completed assessments.
Download or read book Sustainable Development in the United States written by U.S. Interagency Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sustainable Development Indicators written by Søren Nors Nielsen and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-01-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzing the Danish island of Samsø, this book explains sustainability through a biogeophysical lens of how to best use Earth's limited resources to achieve true sustainability. The methods used derive from the thermodynamic functions of exergy. The exergy-based approach is an important tool for monitoring the indicators of sustainability.
Download or read book Sustainable Development Indicators in Ecological Economics written by Philip A. Lawn and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book covers a wide range of concepts pertaining to the sustainable development and successfully captures the inter-connectivity of environmental preservation and sustainable development. International Journal of Ecological Economics and Statistics . . . this book is authoritative, objective and essential reading for academics and policymakers concerned with the application of indicators of sustainable development. It takes great care to emphasize what has worked, what has not and what should be our future priorities for research; the combination of these features certainly sets it apart from some other texts in the field. Lee M. Stapleton, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management This book presents a comprehensive collection of essays from some of the world s leading experts, surveying and highlighting both the potential and the limitations of a number of indicators specifically designed to measure sustainable development. Illustrative applications are presented throughout in order to demonstrate the value of the approaches discussed. This book is highly recommended for all those who are interested in a better understanding of what sustainable development is and its likely associated indicators, and ultimately aims to contribute to a better foundation for public decision-making. Paulo A.L.D. Nunes, Venice International University, Cà Foscari University, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, Venice, Italy and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, national governments have introduced a range of policy measures designed to steer their economies along a more sustainable path. Yet how are we to know how successful these have been? This significant new book discusses the ways in which sustainable development indicators can be improved in order to both assess the impact of past policies and avoid the repetition of previous failings. Covering a broad range of indicators relating to national accounts, aggregate welfare, natural capital, ecosystem health and human environment interactions, this volume provides an important assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of each. With contributions from some of the most eminent scholars in the field, the book competently analyses the various methods of measuring the sustainable development performance of nations, and suggests many ways in which these can be developed and improved. While the contributors might offer conflicting views, the message they convey is universal the quest for appropriate sustainable development indicators is critically important if we are ever to bring about a fairer, sustainable and more efficient world.
Download or read book In Search of Indicators of Sustainable Development written by Onno J. Kuik and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1989 the Dutch government published a National Environmental Policy Plan (Dutch abbreviation NMP). This NMP is based on the book Concern for Tomorrow. a national environmental survey by RIVM (the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection). A major conclusion of the RIVM study was that emissions of many pollutants had to be cut by 70 - 90 % in order to reach environmental quality goals. The government accepted the RIVM analysis and consequently ClUTent Dutch environmental policy aims at large reduction of pollutants. Another conclusion of the RIVM study was that such high reduction goals would not be easy to achieve by technological means alone, and that thus structural changes would be required. These changes could eventually lead to sustainable development, which now forms the major focus of Dutch government national environmental policy. This being so, the Dutch government requested that RIVM in subsequent issues of Concern for Tomorrow should investigate the options for sustainable development.
Download or read book Alternative Progress Indicators to Gross Domestic Product GDP as a Means Towards Sustainable Development written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic performance is generally being measured through GDP (Gross Domestic Product),a variable that has also become the de facto universal metric for 'standards of living'. It is universally applied according to common standards, and has some undeniable benefits mainly due to its simplicity. Unfortunately, this indicator grossly counts all transactions with a market price and thus bluntly adds up benefits and costs in its accounting. It thus converts (welfare-reducing) costs to perceived benefits.The indicator also fails to include non-market transactions, such as family work. Sustainable development and sustainable decision-making are difficult to achieve if welfare is being considered from a purely financial point of view. GDP does not adequately take into account human and social welfare. Furthermore, environmental costs such as the depletion of resources and the damage to the environment are also neglected. It is a valuable exercise to assess in how far environmental and social costs and benefits could be incorporated in the measures used to define 'development, wealth and well-being'. Chapter 2 of the study presents the conference and related events on global scale. Chapter 3 gives a brief overview of sustainable development, how to measure it and its relevance within policy-making. Chapter 4 explains the concept of GDP and the main shortcomings and benefits of this indicator. Chapter 5 explores a selected list of alternative 'progress indicators'for which the SWOT-analyses done by the Wuppertal Institute (2007) assess the Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to be taken into account for a strategic management.Chapter 6 summarises the indicators and gives some conclusions and recommendations.
Download or read book Scenarios and Indicators for Sustainable Development Towards A Critical Assessment of Achievements and Challenges written by Joachim H. Spangenberg and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2019-03-14 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Globalization and telecoupling are enhancing the complexity of the coupled socio-ecological system constituted by the interaction between the global ecosphere and the anthroposphere. As a result, the demand for tools to identify transformative innovations, assess future risks, and support precautionary decisions for sustainability is growing by the day in business and politics. Scenarios are a means of simplification, reducing the real-world complexity to a limited number of essential factors to analyze their interactions and support policy formulation, with indicators as communication and monitoring tools. In particular, in a time of “fake news” and “alternative truths” a critical reflection amongst producers and users of scenarios and indicators is overdue—the capability for critical self-reflection is what distinguishes science from pseudo-science, and is a condition of trust. The authors of this book test established measurement and modeling approaches against new challenges, assess the weaknesses of prevailing innovation theories and the political-ideological embedment of archetypical scenarios, highlight deficits in taking the physical basics into account, and the need to understand global interaction and the stepwise process of energy transitions, point out technical as well as conceptual weaknesses in data collection, harmonization and indicator generation, always with a view to solving problems.
Download or read book Indices and Indicators in Development written by Stephen Morse and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of numbers to condense complex systems into easily digested 'bites' of information is very much in fashion. At one level they are intended to enhance transparency, accountability and local democracy, while at another they provide a means of enhancing performance. However, all indicators suffer from the same basic problem that, ironically, is also their biggest advantage - condensing something highly complex into a few simple numbers. Love them or hate them, there is no denying that people use indicators to make decisions. Indices and Indicators explores the use of indicators within the field of human development. Part I provides a brief outline of the contested meaning of 'development' and how indices and indicators have been used as means of testing the realization of these development visions in practice in a range of institutional contexts. Part II discusses the limitations of such indices and indicators and illustrates how they are dependent upon the vision of development adopted. The book also suggests how indices and indicators can best be employed and presented. Given our overwhelming reliance on indices and indicators for measuring progress, directing policy and allocating resources, this book is essential core reading for academics, undergraduate and post-graduate students in social science, economics, geography and development studies as well as development practitioners, policy-makers and donor and international funding agencies.
Download or read book Sustainability Indicators written by Bedrich Moldan and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a synthesis of current scientific advice on the future course of work, in the international context, on indicators of sustainable development. It provides input from the scientific and academic community regarding priority areas and direction for future work. It synthesizes current on the ground experience for the decision maker. The volume has special significance in the context of the ongoing CSD multi-thematic programme, which includes 1997.
Download or read book Pathways to Urban Sustainability written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities have experienced an unprecedented rate of growth in the last decade. More than half the world's population lives in urban areas, with the U.S. percentage at 80 percent. Cities have captured more than 80 percent of the globe's economic activity and offered social mobility and economic prosperity to millions by clustering creative, innovative, and educated individuals and organizations. Clustering populations, however, can compound both positive and negative conditions, with many modern urban areas experiencing growing inequality, debility, and environmental degradation. The spread and continued growth of urban areas presents a number of concerns for a sustainable future, particularly if cities cannot adequately address the rise of poverty, hunger, resource consumption, and biodiversity loss in their borders. Intended as a comparative illustration of the types of urban sustainability pathways and subsequent lessons learned existing in urban areas, this study examines specific examples that cut across geographies and scales and that feature a range of urban sustainability challenges and opportunities for collaborative learning across metropolitan regions. It focuses on nine cities across the United States and Canada (Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Grand Rapids, MI, Flint, MI, Cedar Rapids, IA, Chattanooga, TN, and Vancouver, Canada), chosen to represent a variety of metropolitan regions, with consideration given to city size, proximity to coastal and other waterways, susceptibility to hazards, primary industry, and several other factors.
Download or read book Sustainability Indicators in Practice written by Agnieszka Latawiec and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-12-30 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The goal of sustainable development is to meet the socio-economic and environmental objectives without comprising the needs of future generations. Since the Rio Summit of 1992, the concept of sustainability has captured our imaginations and aspirations and efforts to develop its indicators have increased. A range of sustainability indicators have been developed within various socio-economic, environmental and cultural contexts- including biodiversity, economy, energy, water, land use and transport. Sustainability indicators are widespread in international development arena. They have become popularized among governments, non-governmental organizations, private sector and the wider public. Based on multiple cases across the world, this book explores opportunities and challenges associated with the practical application of sustainability indicators. The book reflects diversity of professionals of inter-disciplinary backgrounds covering contemporary issues within different socio-economic and environmental contexts. Each chapter presents practical examples of the merits and challenges of using sustainability indicators and draws conclusions and lessons learned. The book targets a range of audience from students, academics to development practitioners and policy-makers. The two editors of this book: Dr. Agnieszka Ewa Latawiec and Dr. Dorice Agol are inter-disciplinary scientists who both have experience in research at the environmental conservation and development nexus.
Download or read book Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education written by Walter Leal Filho and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-23 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Handbook approaches sustainable development in higher education from an integrated perspective, addressing the dearth of publications on the subject. It offers a unique overview of what universities around the world are doing to implement sustainable development (i.e. via curriculum innovation, research, activities, or practical projects) and how their efforts relate to education for sustainable development at the university level. The Handbook gathers a wealth of information, ideas, best practices and lessons learned in the context of executing concrete projects, and assesses methodological approaches to integrating the topic of sustainable development in university curricula. Lastly, it documents and disseminates the veritable treasure trove of practical experience currently available on sustainability in higher education.
Download or read book Sustainability Indicators written by Tomás Hák and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the concept of sustainability has been widely embraced, it has been only vaguely defined and is exceedingly difficult to measure. Sustainability indicators are critical to making the broad concept of sustainability operational by providing specific measures by which decision makers and the public can judge progress. Sustainability Indicators defines the present state of the art in indicator development. It presents a comprehensive assessment of the science behind various indicators, while placing special emphasis on their use as communications tools. The contributors draw on their experience as academics and practitioners to describe the conceptual challenges to measuring something as complex as sustainability at local, regional, national, and global scales. The book also reviews existing indicators to assess how they could be better employed, considering which indicators are overused and which have been underutilized. Sustainability Indicators will help planners and policy makers find indicators that are ready for application and relevant to their needs, and will help researchers identify the unresolved issues where progress is most urgently needed. All readers will find advice as to the most effective ways to use indicators to support decision making.
Download or read book Entrepreneurship and Well being written by Slavica Singer and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-02-15 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributing to the targets of SDG #17, this book interrogates how the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and other indicators are (or can be) relevant for entering the global discussion on UN SDGs. By highlighting the topic of 'well-being' as a major connecting point between the SDGs, the GEM and other surveys the book has three main purposes: firstly, it shows that GEM data can contribute significantly to the monitoring process of the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals; secondly it analyses the survey’s capacity to add value to the global discussion on well-being; thirdly, the book places emphasis on the pressing need for data in order to monitor the achievement of the SDGs. Ultimately, the book provides sound research that can serve as a basis for discussion with the UN on potential partnerships within the framework of SDG 17. The authors encourage GEM and other researchers to ensure that their data serves as a reliable partner to the UN in building a better world, based on well-being for everyone.
Download or read book A Sustainable World written by Thaddeus C. Trzyna and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
