Here is a survey of sustainability principles. The Bellagio Principles are
interesting and very clear. 

Ciao,

John Foster

Bellagio Principles of Sustainability

http://iisd1.iisd.ca/measure/1.htm

Background

In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland
Commission) called for the development of new ways to measure and assess
progress toward sustainable development. This call has been subsequently
echoed in Agenda 21 of the 1992 Earth Summit and through activities that
range from local to global in scale. In response, significant efforts to
assess performance have been made by corporations, non-government
organizations, academics, communities, nations, and international
organizations. 

Who Developed the Principles?

In November 1996, an international group of measurement practitioners and
researchers from five continents came together at the Rockefeller
Foundation's Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy to review
progress to date and to synthesize insights from practical ongoing efforts.
The attached principles resulted and were unanimously endorsed. 

What is Their Use and Who are the Users?

These principles serve as guidelines for the whole of the assessment process
including the choice and design of indicators, their interpretation and
communication of the result. They are interrelated and should be applied as
a complete set. They are intended for use in starting and improving
assessment activities of community groups, non-government organizations,
corporations, national governments, and international institutions. 

Overview

These principles deal with four aspects of assessing progress toward
sustainable development. Principle 1 deals with the starting point of any
assessment - establishing a vision of sustainable development and clear
goals that provide a practical definition of that vision in terms that are
meaningful for the decision-making unit in question. Principles 2 through 5
deal with the content of any assessment and the need to merge a sense of the
overall system with a practical focus on current priority issues. Principles
6 through 8 deal with key issues of the process of assessment, while
Principles 9 and 10 deal with the necessity for establishing a continuing
capacity for assessment. 

1. Guiding Vision and Goals 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should be guided by a
clear vision of sustainable development and goals that define that vision 

2. Holistic Perspective 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· include review of the whole system as well as its parts 
· consider the well-being of social, ecological, and economic sub-systems,
their state as well as the direction and rate of change of that state, of
their component parts, and the interaction between parts 
· consider both positive and negative consequences of human activity, in a
way that reflects the costs and benefits for human and ecological systems,
in monetary and non-monetary terms 

3. Essential Elements 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· consider equity and disparity within the current population and between
present and future generations, dealing with such concerns as resource use,
over-consumption and poverty, human rights, and access to services, as
appropriate 
· consider the ecological conditions on which life depends 
· consider economic development and other, non-market activities that
contribute to human/social well-being 

4. Adequate Scope 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· adopt a time horizon long enough to capture both human and ecosystem time
scales thus responding to needs of future generations as well as those
current to short term decision-making 
· define the space of study large enough to include not only local but also
long distance impacts on people and ecosystems 
· build on historic and current conditions to anticipate future conditions -
where we want to go, where we could go 

5. Practical Focus 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should be based on: 
· an explicit set of categories or an organizing framework that links vision
and goals to indicators and assessment criteria 
· a limited number of key issues for analysis 
· a limited number of indicators or indicator combinations to provide a
clearer signal of progress 
· standardizing measurement wherever possible to permit comparison 
· comparing indicator values to targets, reference values, ranges,
thresholds, or direction of trends, as appropriate 

6. Openness 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· make the methods and data that are used accessible to all 
· make explicit all judgments, assumptions, and uncertainties in data and
interpretations 
7. Effective Communication 
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· be designed to address the needs of the audience and set of users 
· draw from indicators and other tools that are stimulating and serve to
engage decision-makers 
· aim, from the outset, for simplicity in structure and use of clear and
plain language 

8. Broad Participation 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· obtain broad representation of key grass-roots, professional, technical
and social groups , including youth, women, and indigenous people - to
ensure recognition of diverse and changing values 
· ensure the participation of decision-makers to secure a firm link to
adopted policies and resulting action 

9. Ongoing Assessment 

Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should: 
· develop a capacity for repeated measurement to determine trends 
· be iterative, adaptive, and responsive to change and uncertainty because
systems are complex and change frequently 
· adjust goals, frameworks, and indicators as new insights are gained 
· promote development of collective learning and feedback to decision-making 

10. Institutional Capacity 

Continuity of assessing progress toward sustainable development should be
assured by: 
· clearly assigning responsibility and providing ongoing support in the
decision-making process 
· providing institutional capacity for data collection, maintenance, and
documentation 
· supporting development of local assessment capacity 

http://www.brocku.ca/epi/sustainability/sustprin.htm

Principles of Sustainability: A Compilation 

The following sets of principles of sustainability are provided to stimulate
discussion and critical discourse. They are listed in chronological order of
their publication. Please consult the source references for a more complete
overview. All rights of the original authors are reserved.

If you are aware of other sustainability principles or guideposts which do
not appear here, please contact David T. Brown at [log in to unmask] 

Principles Defining Sustainable Development (OSEM 1989)

Six Principles of Sustainable Development (ORTEE 1992) 

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UNCED 1992)

Guideposts for a Sustainable Future (Nickerson 1993) 

IISD's Principles for Trade and Sustainable Development (Summary) (IISD 1994) 

A Framework For Sustainable Development (CIDA 1994) 

Environmental Principles for Corporations (Phyper and Ibbottson 1994) 

The Natural Step: The Four System Conditions(Robert et al. 1994) 

Sustainability Principles (ORTEE 1994)

Great Plains: Principles for Sustainability (IISD 1995) 

Bellagio Principles: Guidelines for the Practical Assessment of Progress
Toward Sustainable Development (Indicators)(IISD 1996)

Eight Principles for Sustainable Transportation (NRTEE 1996)

Earth Charter / The Earth Charter Consultation (Earth Council 1997)

Principles of Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development
(Rockefeller 1997) 

 


HUMAN IMPACTS AT DANGEROUS LEVELS: A new report released at a
conference of world environment ministers has found the "human impact
on natural ecosystems has reached dangerous levels" says BBC News 9/15.
The collaboration between the World Resources Institute, U.N. and World
Bank found human activity has begun to "significantly alter the Earth's
basic chemical cycles" by destroying "half the world's wetlands," up to
50% of the forest cover, and by degrading two-thirds of the planet's
agricultural lands, and over fishing "70% of the major marine fish
stocks."




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