Buenos Aires, Argentina - IUCN

According to one speaker, much of what is called
monitoring is only a one-time assessment, often
because the monitoring project lacks an institutional
home. Aware of the high costs of monitoring, speakers
stressed the need to identify the customers and see
how they intend to use the results. The Dutch environmental
information system was cited as an example of
a data collection scheme that directly serves government
officials; the system had first found out what the
target audience wanted to know and compared that
with what could be provided. A speaker noted that it
is often necessary to divide information into smaller
geographic or social units to make it more meaningful,
for example by showing differences between men and
women and between cities and rural areas. The
SCOPE Sustainable Biosphere Project was suggested
as an example of how to design a large-scale project to
measure progress toward sustainability and to learn
from experience in an iterative process.
In the discussion that followed, participants grappled
over how to balance the need for more research
with the imperative to do the best with the available
information. Some suggested accepting "optimally
inaccurate" indicators. One idea is to assign colours or
similar non-quantitative measures in cases where
numerical data are insufficient or inappropriate. This
would enable researchers to begin analyzing patterns
and monitoring trends while more precise methods
are worked out if, indeed, they are needed. There was
controversy over establishing standards, which were
perceived by many as being too arbitrary. Others contended
that environmental standards, similar to
standards on nutrition, can be set as a first approximation
and then corrected later; their value lies in the
legal field, through establishing and enforcing compliance
regulations.
Indicators and Indices
The toughest problems in evaluation are in choosing
the criteria on which to measure success. What are the
difficulties involved in choosing indicators to measure
ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainability?
What is needed to overcome these difficulties?
And what should be included in an index of natural
and human indicators?
One speaker defined sustainability in terms of
whether the productive potential of a natural system
would continue under a particular management practice.
While accepting that this definition was narrow
compared to those in Caring for the Earth and the
Brundtland Report, many participants found it to be a
workable definition for developing and applying
indicators. Others pointed out the danger of emphasizing
the "productive potential" of natural systems
and the implication that we must strive for the highest
yield possible.
There was general agreement that most progress
has been made in developing biological and physical
indicators, but even in this area practitioners acknowledged
great difficulties in getting reliable field data.
Part of the problem is that sustainable development
work is generally carried out in natural systems
already under significant stress. One yardstick by
which to measure the success of sustainable development
projects is the extent to which the lives of women
have improved according to their own definition of
happiness and what they mean by a "good life". Indicators
of poverty alleviation are also crucial parts of a
comprehensive measurement in developing and
industrialized countries alike. In sustainable development,
however, women and poor people should be
more than objects of study. They should be active
partners in decision-making and implementation.
Participants debated the merits and inherent problems
of national accounting systems. They considered
whether it would be worth the massive effort to
reform them so as to better reflect such issues as natural
resource depletion and inequities within societies.
The Next Steps
In this session participants made brief presentations
on specific projects, proposals and ideas. One speaker
outlined projects linking indicators to performance
goals at national and subnational levels. Another
called for better cooperation and exchange of experience
on project evaluation among donor agencies. A
third promoted the idea of tracking indicators of social
environmental learning as an innovative way to
measure progress toward a sustainable society.
IUCN's New Connections Project was described in
terms of its aim to improve linkages between the social
and natural sciences, between scholars and practitioners.
Many people stressed the importance of exchanging
information as a way of making progress. It was
felt the following would be useful: workshops where
case studies would be shared; regional training
sessions; increased use of electronic communication
systems; and case studies showing the effective use of
information on measurement of sustainability, analysis
and methodology, or on modelling techniques
applied to real situations.
Reports from the Workshops 59