Download Importance and potential benefits of Sustainability Indicators

Importance of Sustainable
Development Indicators
Ted Heintz
Department of the Interior
Office of Policy Analysis
Some History:
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Sustainability, achieved through the processes of
Sustainable Development, has emerged as an
important goal over the last 20 years.
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In 1987, the Brundtland Commission Report, Our
Common Future put forward the concept of
Sustainable Development as development that
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meets the needs of the current generation
while not compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs.
Roles of National Indicators of
Sustainable Development
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To provide information for decision making.
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high level decisions
management decisions
daily life decisions
To provide feedback needed for sustainable
development.
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developing a shared understanding of the
consequences of millions of actions.
Indicators Provide Feedback that
Steers Social and Economic Action
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Promote social learning: shared
understanding and broader agreement
about what needs to be done.
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Promote evolution of management
processes by showing what works and
what doesn’t.
The process of indicator development is
as valuable as the indicators we produce.
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Experts, decision makers, and the public
should work together in a participatory
process.
Indicator selection is a process that requires
broader concensus on goals.
We are what we measure. We need to
measure what we want to be.
We are more likely to become what we can
agree to measure. We need to agree on
what we want to become.
Roles of Performance Measures for
Sustainability
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To provide accountability in the operation
of government programs with objectives
relevant to sustainability.
To provide feedback in order to promote
learning about what works and what
doesn’t.
To measure the contribution of specific
programs to national progress toward
sustainability.
The National SDI Framework
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What We Are Trying to Assess?
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What is Sustainability?
Consistent with the Brundtland
definition,
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Sustainability is the condition in which we
are reasonably confident that
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As we are meeting the needs (and wants) of the
current generation, we are also
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Passing along to future generations sufficient
means for them to meet their needs (and wants).
Focusing on Future Generations by
Measuring Endowments
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The SDI Framework includes indicators for all our
Endowments:
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all of the stocks and productive capacities we draw upon
to meet our needs and then pass along to the future.
economic or produced capital and infrastructure.
environmental or natural capital.
social capital.
We are the Trustees of our Endowments.
Long Term Endowments &
Liabilities
Economic
Environmental
Social
Capital Assets
Surface Water Quality
U.S. Population
Labor
Productivity
Acres of Major
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Children Living in Families with
Only One Parent Present
Federal Debt to
GDP Ratio
Contaminants in Biota
Teacher Training Level and
Application of Qualifications
Quantity of Spent
Nuclear Fuel
Status of Stratospheric
Ozone
Greenhouse Climate
Response Index
Focusing on Future Generations by
Measuring Endowment Changes
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The SDI Framework includes indicators for
Processes
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including the Driving Forces that change our
Endowments.
depreciation and investment in produced capital.
depletion and augmentation of natural resource stocks.
degradation and restoration of natural systems.
building social capital.
Processes
Economic
Environmental
Social
Ratio of Renewable Water Supply to
Withdrawals
Contributing Time & Money to
Charities
Materials Consumption (per
Capita and per $ of GDP)
Fisheries Utilization
Births to Single Mothers
Inflation
Invasive Alien Species
Educational Attainment by Level
Investment in R&D (% of GDP)
Conversion of Cropland to Other Uses
Participation in the Arts &
Recreation
Soil Erosion Rates
People in Census Tracts with
40% or Greater Poverty
Energy Consumption(per
Capita and per $ of GDP)
Timber Growth to Removals Balance
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Identification & Management of
Superfund Sites
Focusing on Meeting Current Needs
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The SDI Framework includes indicators for Current
Outputs and Results.
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economic goods and services that people use to meet
their needs and wants.
environmental services that meet peoples needs and
wants.
experiences people have through social relationships that
met their needs and wants.
The SDI Framework provides an opportunity to
measure output and the resulting satisfaction of
needs and wants separately
Current Results
Economic
Environmental
Social
Domestic Product
Metropolitan Air Quality
Nonattainment
Crime Rate
Income Distribution
Outdoor Recreational
Activites
Life Expectancy at Birth
Consumption
Expenditures Per Capita
Unemployment
Homeownership Rates
% of Households in
Problem Housing
Educational
Achievement Rates
Performance Measures for
Sustainability
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Measure Endowments you manage
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Measure Endowments you affect
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measure capacities or stocks directly.
measure Driving Forces you cause that increase or
decrease those capacities.
measure Driving Forces you cause that increase or
decrease Endowments you don’t manage.
Measure Current Outputs and Results you produce
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trends can reveal increases or decreases in Endowments