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Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development

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Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development by Donella Meadows A Report to the Balaton Group Published by The Sustainability Institute • 3 Linden Road • Hartland VT 05048 © The Sustainability Institute, 1998. Published by The Sustainability Institute • 3 Linded Road • Hartland VT 05049 Phone 802-436-1277 • FAX 802-436-1281 • Email: [email protected] For additional copies of this report, send US$10 to The Sustainability Institute. Indicators and Information Systems for ultimate ends Sustainable Development by Donella Meadows intermediate ends intermediate means ultimate means A Report to the Balaton Group • September 1998 Contents The origin of this work iii Acknowledgments v Notes on the format vii Summary viii 1. The nature of indicators, the importance of indicators 1 2. Indicators, models, cultures, worldviews 6 3. Why indicators of sustainable development? 11 4. The challenge of coming up with good indicators 17 5. Suggestions for indicator process and linkage 22 Hierarchy: coherence up and down the information system 22 The selection process: experts and citizens together 25 Systems: making indicators dynamic 27 6. A suggested framework for sustainable development indicators 40 The hierarchy from ultimate means to ultimate ends 40 Natural capital (ultimate means) 47 Built capital (intermediate means) 53 Human capital (intermediate means/ends) 57 Social capital (intermediate ends) 61 Well-being (ultimate ends) 66 Integration (translating ultimate means into ultimate ends) 68 7. Sample indicators 72 8. Implementing, monitoring, testing, evaluating, and improving indicators 76 i Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development ii The origin of this work The origin of this work This paper grew out of a five-day • Wouter Biesiot, Center for En- workshop on sustainable develop- ergy and Environmental Studies, ment indicators attended by a small University of Groningen, the subset of the two hundred members Netherlands; of the Balaton Group. The Balaton Group, founded in 1981, is an inter- • Valdis Bisters, Ecological Center, national network of scholars and ac- University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia; tivists who work on sustainable de- • Hartmut Bossel, Environmental velopment in their own countries and Systems Research Center, Univer- regions. We come to our work from sity of Kassel, Germany; a cross-disciplinary, whole-systems perspective. Individually and jointly • Joan Davis, Federal Institute for we have been thinking about and test- Environmental Sciences and Tech- ing indicators of sustainable develop- nology, Dubendorf, Switzerland; ment in local, national, or interna- tional contexts for many years. • Bert de Vries, RIVM, Bilthoven, The workshop was held at the the Netherlands; National Institute for Public Health • Thomas Fiddaman, System Dy- and Environmental Protection namics Group, MIT, Cambridge, (RIVM) in Bilthoven, the Nether- MA, USA; lands, April 13–17, 1996. The par- ticipants (identified here by their • Genady Golubev, Faculty of Ge- place of employment, though we par- ography, Moscow State University, ticipated as individuals) were: Russia; • Alan AtKisson, Redefining • Jane King, Centre for Human Progress, San Francisco, CA, USA; Ecology, University of Edin- burgh, Scotland; • Alp Baysal, Programme for Sys- tems Management, University of • Donella Meadows, Environmen- Cape Town, South Africa; tal Studies Program, Dartmouth iii Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development College, Hanover, NH, USA; a new vision of the kinds of infor- mation and indicators we would • Lars Mortensen, Division for Sus- need to guide ourselves toward a sus- tainable Development, Depart- tainable world — whether on the ment of Policy Coordination and level of a community, a nation, or Sustainable Development, Uni- the whole planet. We were all ex- ted Nations, New York, NY, USA; cited. I was given the task of trying to • Jørgen Nørgard, Department of write up the kaleidoscope of insights Buildings and Energy, Technical we had produced. I did my best, University of Denmark, Lyngby, though I didn’t and still don’t feel Denmark; adequate to the task. I prepared a • Michael Ochieng Odhiambo, draft that circulated among Balaton Centre for Environmental Policy Group members for a year, collect- and Law, Nakuru, Kenya; ing comments and amendments and starting a few heated arguments. • John Peet, Department of Outside reviewers sent us primarily Chemical and Process Engineer- praise and requests for more copies. ing, University of Canterbury, Whatever we had produced, it was Christchurch, New Zealand; clearly unfinished, still a work in progress, but equally clearly useful • Laszlo Pinter, International Insti- enough to justify compiling all the tute for Sustainable Develop- responses and putting out a final ment, Winnipeg, Canada; printed version. A subcommittee as- • Rosendo Pujol, Department of sembled to do that. That commit- Civil Engineering, University of tee consisted of Alan AtKisson, Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica; Hartmut Bossel, Joan Davis, Bert de Vries, Donella Meadows, Jørgen • Aromar Revi, The Action Re- Nørgard, John Peet, Laszlo Pinter, search Unit, New Delhi, India; and Aromar Revi. This is the result. It bears only • Detlef von Vuuren, RIVM, my name as author, because the Bilthoven, the Netherlands. Balaton Group is made up of far too many diverse and independent Whenever Balaton Group members thinkers to suggest that they are all get together, new ideas fly and old of one mind about anything, except ideas come together in sudden and the basic desirability and urgency of striking connections. This workshop sustainable development and more was no exception. We emerged with powerful indicators thereof. Some of iv The origin of this work the group strongly object to some have made no headway if we had not things written here, though I think been able to think about and build all are in agreement with the basic upon years of intense discussion thrust (and I try to signal the areas of about indicators of sustainable devel- significant discord). The drafting opment on the part of thousands of committee decided it would be bet- people throughout the world. In par- ter to give me free rein to write in my ticular we would like to acknowledge: own voice, choose my own empha- ses, and be responsible for my own • The program on indicators of the quirks, rather than to try to hammer United Nations Commission on out a document that might please Sustainable Development (CSD); everyone and therefore become col- orless. • The formulation of indicators of So, while recognizing an enor- natural, human, and social capi- mous debt to those who were respon- tal by the World Bank; sible for the ideas, funding, and prac- • Compilations of environmental tical efforts that made this work pos- indicators assembled by the sible, I take personal responsibility for United Nations Statistical Divi- everything written here. sion, the OECD, the European Environment Agency, and Eurostat; Acknowledgments • The Project on Indicators of the Scientific Committee on Prob- The entire group is thankful to lems of the Environment Mariette Commadeur and Bert de (SCOPE); Vries of RIVM and Betty Miller and Diana Wright of the Balaton Group • The Human Development Re- for their efficient and cheerful logis- port of the United Nations De- tical support. velopment Programme (UNDP); Financial support was provided • The initiatives of the World Re- by RIVM, the Jenifer Altman Foun- sources Institute (WRI), in par- dation, the Wallace Global Fund, and ticular in the areas of biodiversity, the Gellert Foundation. Special georeference indicators, and ma- thanks to the John D. and Catherine terials flows; T. MacArthur Foundation for the fel- lowship that allows me to work for • Studies by the Dutch National the Balaton Group. Institute of Public Health and The workshop participants could Environmental Protection v Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development (RIVM) in cooperation with the Hartmut Bossel (orientor theory and United Nations Environment Scenarios A and B), E. F. Schumacher Programme (UNEP), especially (definitions of human capital), and in the area of indicators sup- ecologists and ecological economists ported by dynamic modeling; too numerous to mention. Finally I would personally like to • Local indicators projects in many thank Balaton Group members at parts of the world, most particu- home and on-line who sent ideas, larly Sustainable Seattle; comments, and reactions, and who have helped build up over many years • The overview of sustainable de- the intellectual capital we all brought velopment indicator initiatives to this exercise. published by the International The format was designed by Meg Institute on Sustainable Develop- Houston of Fonta. ment (IISD); • Initiatives at the national level by countries such as Canada, Costa Rica, Japan, the Netherlands, the United States, and others, and re- gional initiatives in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; • The Worldwatch Institute’s an- nual report Vital Signs. The Balaton Group owes an ongoing intellectual debt to many thinkers in the fields of systems, sustainability, and development, whose ideas influ- ence our every meeting as well as this document. They include Jay Forrester (system dynamics), Herman Daly (the Daly triangle, the Daly laws), Amory Lovins (least-cost end-use analysis), Vassily Leontief (input-out- put analysis), Michael Thompson (cultural theory), Manfred Max-Neef (fundamental human needs), Will- iam Rees
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