Assessment of Sustainability Indicators (ASI)

Chair: Bedrich Moldan (Czech Republic), Vice-chair: Wang Rusong (China-CAST);
SAC: Theo Beckers (The Netherlands), Marina Fischer Kowalski (Austria), Edgar Gutierrez-Espeleta (Costa Rica), S. Karlsson (Norway), Marc Levy (USA), Mohd Hasan Nordin (Malaysia), Giok-Ling Ooi (Singapore)
Project Officer: Tomas Hak (Czech Republic)

At a time when modern information technologies increase the flow of information but not our ability to absorb it, information tools that monitor, condense and digest information for rapid communication and assimilation are critically needed.

Sustainability indicators were conceived as tools, “measuring sticks” which encompass economic, social, environmental, cultural, institutional and other realms of human activity which affect sustainable development. To be effective they should be comprehensive enough to take into account stresses in economies, ecosystems and social fabrics (see SCOPE 58 and Background to the first SCOPE Indicators project).

The ongoing Assessment of Sustainability Indicators (ASI) project began in 2003 and is implemented jointly by SCOPE and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), together with the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and the European Environment Agency (EEA), under the sponsorship of the International Council for Science (ICSU).

ASI provides a scientific assessment of existing sustainable development indicators and is developing a set of ASI criteria to test indicators of sustainable development for a variety of purposes and at different geographic scales. Forty 40 international experts gathered together in Prague, Czech Republic (May 2004) for a week-long Rapid Assessment Process workshop.

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the ASI workshop review of the state of the art in indicator development for sustainability. There has been useful progress since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 adopted Agenda 21 and launched an international indicators process. Many indicator sets have been assembled, countries have started their own indicator programs at the national level as called for by the Commission on Sustainable Development, and many aspects of sustainability have been given a more precise definition or measure through indicators. Methodologies are gradually becoming standardized, and policy decisions increasingly provide clear directions and targets, as exemplified by the Millennium Development Goals and their indicators.

However, major conceptual challenges remain, methodologies need further development, and more needs to be learned about the most effective ways to influence policy. Fully integrated sets of indicators or indices to support "self-regulating sustainability" are not yet available.

The most important message from this assessment is probably that progress is sufficient to apply indicators now at the national level and for international comparisons in support of sustainability goals and targets. What is needed is not a fixed approach to be applied everywhere, but a process of adaptive implementation, with indicators evolving as the science of integrated indicators, frameworks and models advances. We need to learn by doing. Each country or institution should select indicators and approaches suited to its needs, priorities and means, and use them to guide policy and action towards sustainable development. This is the only way to ensure a more equitable and sustainable society for our children and future generations.

One of the ASI outputs is a synthesis volume that will convey the definition of criteria for the analysis, the analysis itself, principal findings, discussion, identification of gaps in knowledge and research needs, and finally, recommendations to decision-makers, sustainable development planners and the major stakeholders.

This book, currently in the editing phase, focuses primarily on assessing existing indicators, in order to assist those who need to apply indicators now, and light the way ahead. Successes and failures are analyzed, gaps in knowledge exposed and research needs identified. In addition, some new approaches are proposed.

Progress in sustainability indicator development is reviewed in three domains: conceptual challenges, methodological frontiers, and ensuring policy relevance. The review focuses on indicators broadly concerned with sustainable development including its economic, social and environmental dimensions and other relevant perspectives, largely as used at the national and international levels.

Last up-dated 9 May 2005