Edgar E. Gutiérrez-Espeleta
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, various attempts have been made in Costa Rica to improve the current understanding of the country's sustainable development performance. Inter-institutional and interdisciplinary efforts have been sought to come up with a model to measure this performance. In the process, the active participation of Costa Rican citizens has been encouraged. New information, indicators and indices should be designed to improve the efficiency of decision-making processes and to provide citizens with better information.
DEVELOPING A METHODOLOGY IN COSTA RICA
In 1993, with funding from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and Deutsche GTZ GMBH, an interdisciplinary group at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) undertook a study to develop a methodology to assess a country's sustainable development. The group proposed a modification of Conway's model (1987), and presented the Approximated Sustainability Index (ASI). It states that in order for a nation's development to be called sustainable, it has to display high levels in four areas, or synergetic coordinates. The four areas are productivity, equity, resilience and stability.
1. PRODUCTIVITY is related to a dynamic equilibrium between the natural system and the socio-economic system that ensures food production and goods for the population, without harming the ecosystem. It measures the capacity of a society to use or transform the natural system in the production of food and goods with optimal yields.
2. EQUITY is related to a society's capacity to distribute benefits and risks, stemming from the use or transformation of the surrounding natural system, corresponding to each contribution to the development process. It should also show the distribution of wealth among people.
3. RESILIENCE relates to the capacity of a society to react to natural or induced stress or shock. It is the ability of a system to recover or maintain equal productivity levels, during or after short or long disturbances.
4. STABILITY is related to the capacity of a society to maintain the use or transformation process of a natural system without wide variations.
Each attribute is measured by the integration of several existing variables or indicators that respond to the definition of the particular attribute. The group used the ASI model to develop an information system of sustainability indicators for the natural resource and agricultural sectors of Latin American and the Caribbean countries (LA-Cc) (see Baldares, M., et al. 1993). The system has 33 indicators (22 sustainability indicators and 11 reference indicators) coming from internationally recognized statistical sources (e.g. FAO, WRI, WB, IDB). Each selected variable or indicator must meet certain requirements such as its accessibility at the national level for the majority of LA-Cc and its relevance to at least one attribute in the ASI model. In each case, the group also checked the availability of time series. Gutierrez & Baldares (1996) applied the ASI model to Costa Rica and developed, for each sustainability indicator, score intervals of acceptance (evaluation classes) scaled from 1 (undesirable) to 5 (very desirable). Consultation with several experts, in related fields, helped define these score intervals. Once an agreement was established, researchers applied these intervals to assess sustainability performance by assigning scores to indicator values and by using the ASI algorithm. Results from this process provided a score, from 0 to 100, for each attribute and a single score, also from 0 to 100, for the ASI. These scores are produced every year when data is available.
SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT (SHD): A COSTA RICAN APPROACH
A joint venture, sponsored by the Costa Rican Ombudsman, Public National Universities, the European Union and the UNDP country office, decided to take on a project to measure Sustainable Human Development (SHD) performance in Costa Rica. The 'State of the Nation in Sustainable Human Development' project aims at extending participatory democracy. It strives for the effective participation of civil society and governance by providing an annual report for the public, organizations and private and public institutions, about the assessment and desegregated measure of SHD, complementing the Human Development Index. This initiative used the ASI model as a point of departure.
The project adopted UNDP's definition of SHD as a continuous integral process that involves components and dimensions of social and personal development (UNDP 1994). For SHD to occur, it is essential that skills and opportunities be generated by and for the people and the search for equity must be sustained for present and future generations. SHD considers economic growth a means and not an end. It protects the opportunities of present and future generations and respects the natural systems on which life depends. Finally, SHD puts people al the core of development policies. The essence of SHD is the idea that everyone should have equal access to development opportunities, now and in the future.
Political and technical legitimacy of the 'State of the Nation' Report is achieved by attracting different actors. On the political side, the project created a Steering Committee with the participation of sponsors, and representatives of the Government of Costa Rica and different groups such as labour unions, entrepreneurial organizations, political parties, community organizations, the mass media, as well as famous personalities. The Committee reviews the design and implementation of the strategy to assess SHD performance in Costa Rica and follows the progress of annual reports.
On the technical side, instead of creating a new, and perhaps ephemeral, research entity, the project relies on existing research institutions. Multiple links were created among them, and were aimed at assessing existing variables and indicators, creating new ones and criticizing initial Sustainable Human Development appraisals. For the first time in Costa Rica, areas such as environmental statistics were subject to intense scrutiny. The 'State of the Nation' Report became an unprecedented multidisciplinary and inter-institutional effort.
The project's first step was to define and develop a concept of sustainable human development that corresponded to the expectations of the main social and political actors in Costa Rica. An interdisciplinary team conducted a rigorous academic process which included extensive social consultations. Drafts of the key topics were discussed with the Steering Committee. All sectors agreed to place social equity at the core of development, based on the universal characteristics of human rights and the role that personal effort and institutional support play in translating opportunities into achievements. They also agreed to recognize that any definition of Sustainable Human Development is subject to change as Costa Rican society achieves certain goals and confronts new problems.
The Steering Committee chose five main themes to measure Sustainable Human Development in Costa Rica. For each one, the Committee agreed to set a maximum and a minimum expectation relating to the meaning of Sustainable Human Development. In addition, they reviewed the issues to be monitored through the system of indicators (see Table 1). This was the point at which exhaustive research began, directed at compiling and assessing the quality and availability of data.
In October 1995, the project published the first report assessing the performance in 1994. The report covered the five topics mentioned in Table 1. It also included a substantial statistical annex covering 108 variables. The report brought to the fore the question of social equity. It also included topics such as the environment, political system, personal safety and values in the discussion of the country's development performance.
The second report, assessing 1995s performance, was released in October 1996. The main topics were the same, but the report brought about some important changes. First, the technical team in 1995 refined the conceptual approach and the system of indicators, and the statistical annex was significantly expanded to include more than 150 variables. Secondly, it prepared a special chapter on education at the request of the Steering Committee. Both the government and the various sectors of civil society perceived a serious crisis in Costa Rica's educational system. Finally, the report identified several key challenges hindering the country's ability to promote further improvements in its sustainable human development.
The development of these reports has motivated other actions such as: the integration of a National Commission on Environmental Information; the establishment of a joint effort with private initiatives, to call for a national forum on key development issues; the dissemination of information kits for the public education system, containing the national SHD; and the opening of a Development Observatory which produces pertinent information for decision-making processes.
THE DEVELOPMENT OBSERVATORY (OBD)
A Development Observatory (ObD) will be operating at the University of Costa Rica in 1997, with the participation of several institutions, both public and private. Its primary objective is to make sustainable development indicators accessible to decision-makers at the national level, by defining them, devising their methodologies and providing training and other capacity-building activities. The ObD will facilitate the understanding of the interaction of physical, social, economic and institutional phenomena by using available quantitative information at the national level and by developing highly aggregated indicators for sustainable development. It will also attempt to articulate initiatives of governmental institutions in order to establish a national development monitoring system. This project is still in the planning phase but there is already agreement about its operation.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The Costa Rican experience illustrates how a system for measuring and monitoring Sustainable Human Development performance may become a tool for improving democratic governance in societies experiencing economic modernization and state reform. By combining sound technical analysis, institutional research capabilities and a political methodology, annual reports on Sustainable Human Development have earned high respect and legitimacy. In addition, they have fostered institutional changes and political dialogue among parties, labour unions, co-operatives and entrepreneurial organizations.
REFERENCES
Conway, G. (1987) Helping poor farmers -A review of foundation activities in farming systems and agroecosystems research and development. Ford Foundation, New York.
Baldares, M., Gutiérrez, E. E., Alvarado, A. & Brenes, L. G. (1993) Desarrollo de un sistema de informacion sobre indicadores de sostenibilidad para los sectores agrícola y de recursos naturales de los países de America Latína y el Caribe. Report for the Inter- American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and Deutsche GTZ GMBH Project. University of Costa Rica. San José, Costa Rica.
Gutiérrez-Espeleta, E. E. & Baldares, M. (1996) El Indice aproximado de Sostenibilidad: un instrumento para la evaluación del desemperío nacional en sostenibilidad -Una aplicación a los sectores agrícolas y de recursos naturales de Costa Rica. Pgs. 1-27, In: Aportes en el Desarrollo Humano Sostenible No.1. Proyecto Estado de la Nación. Costa Rica.
UNDP (1994) Human Development Report. New York