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trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

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“WALKING IN OTHER’S SHOES” – EXPERIENCES OFUSING THE DECOIN TOOLS TO CHARACTERISESUSTAINABILITY TRADE-OFFS IN SCOTLAND AND THECAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARKK.B. Matthews, K.L. Blackstock, K. Buchan, D.G. Miller <strong>and</strong> M. RivingtonThe James Hutton Institute Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB15 8QH,k.matthews@macaulay.ac.ukABSTRACT The paper presents the experiences <strong>of</strong> using two <strong>of</strong> the DECOIN tools, SUMMA(Sustainability Multi-criteria Multi-scale Assessment) <strong>and</strong> MuSIASEM (Multi-Scale IntegratedAnalysis Societal Ecosystem Metabolism), to characterise sustainability trade-<strong>of</strong>fs in Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> theCairngorms National Park (CNP). The paper reflects on the theoretical basis <strong>of</strong> the two tools thatprovide for complex eco-social systems a coherent conceptual <strong>and</strong> methodological framework withinwhich to underst<strong>and</strong> better sustainability trade-<strong>of</strong>fs. Translating theory into practice, particularlyusing tools <strong>and</strong> methods developed by others, however, remains a challenge. The paper reports theprogress <strong>of</strong> the analysis <strong>of</strong> changes in the sustainability <strong>of</strong> the agriculture sector (1991 to 2007 usingSUMMA) <strong>and</strong> for the wider economy (2005-2009 using MuSIASEM) for Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the CNP.Approaches to the communication <strong>of</strong> SUMMA <strong>and</strong> MuSIASEM outputs for stakeholder audiences arealso presented. The paper concludes that the DECOIN tools have significant utility in conductingtheoretically coherent, practical for implementation <strong>and</strong> policy relevant assessments <strong>of</strong> sustainabilitytrade-<strong>of</strong>fs but that “walking in others shoes” is not always comfortable.1. IntroductionThe Synergies in Multi-Level Inter-Linkages in Eco-social Systems (SMILE) 1 project seeks to furtherdevelop <strong>and</strong> apply the DECOIN 2 tool kit. This toolkit consists <strong>of</strong> three models: SUMMA (SustainabilityMulti-criteria Multi-scale Assessment); MuSIASEM (Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis Societal EcosystemMetabolism) <strong>and</strong> ASA (Advanced Sustainability Analysis). The ambition <strong>of</strong> the SMILE project is tocombine these tools into a system <strong>of</strong> sustainability accounting that provides useful insights into thedynamics <strong>of</strong> the sustainability <strong>of</strong> complex coupled eco-social systems (Giampietro et al. 2009).1http://www.smile-fp7.eu/2http://www.decoin.eu21

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