Sustainable development has become a widely recognized goal for human society ever since deteriorating environmental conditions in many parts of the world indicate that its sustainability may be at stake. But how do we know for sure? And how can we tell when we are on a path of sustainable development? We need appropriate indicators.
Finding an appropriate set of indicators of sustainable development for a community, a city, a region, a country or even the world is not an easy task. It requires knowledge of what is important for the viability of the systems involved, and how that contributes to sustainable development. The num- ber of representative indicators should be as small as possible, but as large as essential.
Many members of the Balaton Group have been concerned with this problem for a long time, in many different countries and in many different projects. To pool and coordinate this accumulated experience, the first formal workshop on Indicators of Sustainable Development was initiated by Donella Meadows and organized at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven, the Netherlands in April 1996. Several smaller follow up workshops were held to deal in particular with systems theoretical aspects, notably in September 1996 and 1997, and December 1997, supplemented by extensive e-mail exchanges. Some Balaton members pursued the subject continuously on their own and in international collaboration.
Results of this work are reported in a Report to the Balaton Group (Donella Meadows: Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development. Sustainability Institute, P.O. Box 174, Hartland Four Corners, VT 05049, USA) and in the present companion report, which concentrates on development and application of a systems theoretical framework for defining indicator sets for sustainable development.
In Chapter 1, What is sustainable development? Concepts and constraints, I define sustainable development in a holistic systems sense and point to the various constraints that restrict possible development paths to accessibility space.
In Chapter 2, How to recognize sustainable development? Looking for indicators, I look at the reasons for having relevant indicators, review existing approaches for defining indicator sets, and identify major systems of societal development for which indicators are required.
In Chapter 3, What does sustainability of a system imply? Orientors of viability, I concentrate on identifying essential interests or basic orientors of systems that have to be fulfilled to some minimum degree to insure a system’s viability and sustainable development.
In Chapter 4, What indicators to select? Unavoidable choice, I argue that indicators must be selected to reflect the state of satisfaction of the basic orientors. Moreover, the choice of indicators must reflect important characteristics of dynamic systems as well as ethical concerns.
In Chapter 5, Defining indicator sets: Procedure, I outline the practical steps for developing a comprehensive set of indicators of sustainable devel- opment, and for assessing viability and sustainability.
In Chapter 6, Defining and using indicator sets: Examples, I apply the approach at the level of community, state, country, region and global devel- opment. Using Worldwatch data series, a set of indicators is defined and used for computer-assisted assessment of global sustainability dynamics from 1950 to 2000.
Substantial inputs to the present report have come in particular from Wouter Biesiot and the participants of the smaller workshops: Alan AtKisson, Joan Davis, Donella Meadows, Jørgen Nørgård, John Peet, Katherine Peet, Laszlo Pinter, Aromar Revi and Bert de Vries. Especially helpful have been extensive written comments by Donella Meadows, John and Katherine Peet, Karl-Friedrich Müller-Reissmann and Bernd Hornung. Although I have tried to incorporate all ideas and suggestions, it has not always been possible to include them in a cohesive framework. The report reflects very much my own way of fitting pieces together. It is a report on work in progress, and constructive criticism, suggestions for improvement, and feedback about applications and experience are welcome.
การพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืนได้กลายเป็น เป้าหมายอย่างกว้างในสังคมมนุษย์นับตั้งแต่ภาวะสิ่งแวดล้อมในหลายส่วนของโลกบ่งชี้ว่า ความยั่งยืนนั้นอาจที่เดิมพัน แต่เรารู้ได้อย่างไรแน่ และเราทราบอย่างเมื่อเราอยู่บนเส้นทางของการพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืน เราต้องกำหนดตัวบ่งชี้หาชุดเหมาะสมของตัวชี้วัดของการพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืนสำหรับชุมชน เมือง ภูมิภาค ประเทศหรือแม้แต่โลกไม่ได้อย่างละเอียด ต้องการรู้อะไรเป็นสิ่งสำคัญสำหรับชีวิตของระบบที่เกี่ยวข้อง และวิธีที่สนับสนุนการพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืน Num-ber ของพนักงานตัวชี้วัดควรเป็นขนาดเล็กเป็นไปได้ แต่มีขนาดใหญ่เป็นสิ่งจำเป็นสมาชิกจำนวนมากของ กลุ่ม Balaton ได้เกี่ยวข้องกับปัญหานี้มาเป็นเวลานาน ในประเทศต่าง ๆ และโครงการต่าง ๆ มากมาย สระว่ายน้ำ และประสานประสบการณ์นี้สะสม แรกอย่างเป็นทางการประชุมเชิงปฏิบัติการในตัวชี้วัดของการพัฒนาที่ยั่งยืนได้เริ่มต้น โดย Donella โดวส์ และจัดที่สถาบันแห่งชาติของสาธารณสุขและในสภาพแวดล้อม (RIVM) ใน Bilthoven ประเทศเนเธอร์แลนด์ในเดือน 1996 เมษายน ติดตามขนาดเล็กหลายเชิงปฏิบัติถือได้ว่าการจัดการโดยเฉพาะกับระบบด้านทฤษฎี โดยเฉพาะในเดือน 1996 กันยายน และ 1997 และ 1997 ธันวาคม เสริม โดยแลกเปลี่ยนอีเมลอย่างละเอียด บางสมาชิก Balaton ติดตามเรื่องอย่างต่อเนื่องด้วยตนเอง และความร่วมมือระหว่างประเทศResults of this work are reported in a Report to the Balaton Group (Donella Meadows: Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development. Sustainability Institute, P.O. Box 174, Hartland Four Corners, VT 05049, USA) and in the present companion report, which concentrates on development and application of a systems theoretical framework for defining indicator sets for sustainable development.In Chapter 1, What is sustainable development? Concepts and constraints, I define sustainable development in a holistic systems sense and point to the various constraints that restrict possible development paths to accessibility space.In Chapter 2, How to recognize sustainable development? Looking for indicators, I look at the reasons for having relevant indicators, review existing approaches for defining indicator sets, and identify major systems of societal development for which indicators are required.In Chapter 3, What does sustainability of a system imply? Orientors of viability, I concentrate on identifying essential interests or basic orientors of systems that have to be fulfilled to some minimum degree to insure a system’s viability and sustainable development.In Chapter 4, What indicators to select? Unavoidable choice, I argue that indicators must be selected to reflect the state of satisfaction of the basic orientors. Moreover, the choice of indicators must reflect important characteristics of dynamic systems as well as ethical concerns.In Chapter 5, Defining indicator sets: Procedure, I outline the practical steps for developing a comprehensive set of indicators of sustainable devel- opment, and for assessing viability and sustainability.
In Chapter 6, Defining and using indicator sets: Examples, I apply the approach at the level of community, state, country, region and global devel- opment. Using Worldwatch data series, a set of indicators is defined and used for computer-assisted assessment of global sustainability dynamics from 1950 to 2000.
Substantial inputs to the present report have come in particular from Wouter Biesiot and the participants of the smaller workshops: Alan AtKisson, Joan Davis, Donella Meadows, Jørgen Nørgård, John Peet, Katherine Peet, Laszlo Pinter, Aromar Revi and Bert de Vries. Especially helpful have been extensive written comments by Donella Meadows, John and Katherine Peet, Karl-Friedrich Müller-Reissmann and Bernd Hornung. Although I have tried to incorporate all ideas and suggestions, it has not always been possible to include them in a cohesive framework. The report reflects very much my own way of fitting pieces together. It is a report on work in progress, and constructive criticism, suggestions for improvement, and feedback about applications and experience are welcome.
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