Sustainability indicators: the problem of integration
Sustainability indicators (SIs) are increasingly seen as important tools in the implementation of sustainable development. Numerous suggested SI lists and matrices exist, but a remaining problem is how these diverse SIs are to be integrated into an answer as to whether something is sustainable or not. In some studies of sustainability workers have adopted a quantitative integration approach whereby SIs are given numerical values and integrated mathematically to produce a value for sustainability. In this paper the authors discuss SI integration by drawing upon the results of a six-year research project based in a village in Nigeria. They conclude that an element of'qualitative integration' incorporating value judgements and subjectivity is inevitable with a concept such as sustainability, even if one begins with what may seem like sharp and quantitative SIs. It is argued that SIs are primarily a product of development intervention rather than a desire to understand, and as a result carry with them the desired characteristics, from the donor perspective, of efficiency and accountability. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Year of publication: |
2001
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Authors: | Morse, Stephen ; McNamara, Nora ; Acholo, Moses ; Okwoli, Benjamin |
Published in: |
Sustainable Development. - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., ISSN 0968-0802. - Vol. 9.2001, 1, p. 1-15
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Publisher: |
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
Saved in:
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