A goal oriented indicator framework to support integrated assessment of new policies for agri-environmental systems

The goal oriented framework (GOF) for indicators has been developed as part of a comprehensive research project developing computerised tools for integrated assessment of the effects of new policies or technologies on agricultural systems (SEAMLESS-IF). The ambition has therefore been to create an indicator framework where the environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainable development can be related to each other in a consistent way. Integrated assessment tools rely on such frameworks to capture and visualise trade-offs (antagonisms or synergies) among indicators between and within the three dimensions of sustainable development. The specific aims of this paper are to (i) present the GOF (ii) present how the GOF can be used to select indicators within the integrated assessment framework SEAMLESS-IF and (iii) discuss the advantages and limitations with the proposed approach. We show that the GOF has several advantages. Its major rewards are its relative simplicity and the possibility to link indicators to policy goals of each dimension of sustainability and thereby facilitate the comparison of the impacts of the new policy on the different dimensions. Another important feature of the GOF is its multi-scale perspective, which will enable the comparison of effects of a new policy between scales. Yet, as typical for all indicator frameworks, the GOF has also biases either instigated by the issues the included models cover or by the stakeholders’ selection of indicators. However, due to the way the GOF and its indicators are technically implemented in SEAMLESS-IF, it can easily be extended and include new indicators to increase and update its policy relevance.     

Developing indicators for environmental policy: data-driven and theory-driven approaches examined by example

This paper investigates the issues involved with environmental indicator development for policy by looking at three recent examples from data and theory-driven approaches. The “Environmental Sustainability Index 2001” report from World Economic Forum, YCELP and CIESIN is taken as an example of the data-driven approach, whereby data availability is the central criterion for indicator development and data is provided for all selected indicators. The other two examples are theory-driven, whereby, the focus is on selecting the best possible indicators from a theoretical point of view and data availability is considered only one of the aspects involved. These examples are the Heinz Center’s1999 report on the “State of the Nation’s Ecosystems” and the US National Research Council (NRC) report on “Ecological Indicators for the Nation”. The reports and approaches are discussed and compared in order to determine their strengths and weaknesses. From this lessons are drawn for future environmental indicator work as a basis for policymaking. In the conclusions four important issues are addressed: (1) data availability; (2) ecosystem specificity of indicators; (3) spatial and conceptual aggregation of indicators and (4) baseline or reference values for indicators. For each of these issues recommendations are made.     

Improving agricultural sustainability: the case of Swedish greenhouse tomatoes

Of major concern to agriculturists and society are issues of sustainability and land and resource requirements for food and fiber. Sustainability of Swedish domestic agriculture is explored using the production of tomatoes in greenhouses as a case study. Issues of sustainability are related to net yields, environmental loading, greenhouse gases, employment and land use. A model for evaluation of sustainability is developed and illustrated using the concepts and theories of analysis. The intensive tomato production system investigated was shown to be highly dependent on non-renewable resources and human service fed back from society. Substituting wood powder from logging residues for the oil used for heating reduced the environmental load and improved the sustainability of the system significantly.     

Meeting lifelong learning needs by distance teaching – Clean technology

The role of education and training is increasingly implicit, if not explicit, in environmental legislation and in management system standards. The consequence of these pressures is that organisations must develop their personnel for continuous improvement in environmental performance. Continuing professional development is a lifelong activity that can be supported by distance learning. Some approaches to this are described including various electronic resources, but all emphasise the broad range of issues that come into environmental decision making. The approaches also reflect the growth in corporate environmental reporting and the disclosure of environmental performance indicators. Performance measures of different media are outlined, while the efficiency, especially in relation to energy use, makes distance learning an application of cleaner production principles.     

A rough set-based quality function deployment (QFD) approach for environmental performance evaluation: a case of offshore oil and gas operations

Activities in offshore oil and gas (OOG) that cause environmental impacts can be systematically managed through an environmental management system (EMS). Environmental performance evaluation (EPE) is an essential part of an EMS. However, previous studies on EPE indicate that existing lists of indicators little insight into how indicators are modified to more accurately assess environmental performance.In this paper, a way is proposed to identify and define specific environmental performance indicators on a case-by-case basis, which consists of five steps: (1) describing environmental requirements; (2) determining favourable outcomes corresponding to the requirements; (3) identifying required activities or issues to achieve the outcomes; (4) searching for proper measures of the activities or issues; and (5) generating a list of key indicators. Based on these steps, a quality function deployment (QFD) approach is developed to determine key indicators and evaluate environmental performance. To handle uncertainties in QFD, the decision makers’ evaluations are quantified through rough numbers using the concept of rough sets. The outputs of the proposed approach are different environmental performance indices. Using these indices, decision makers can easily determine whether an improved performance has been achieved through an EMS. The proposed approach is transparent and promising for use as a unified tool for EPE. An application of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a numerical example.     

Biodiversity and life support impacts of land use in LCA

An operational method to include land use impacts in LCA has been developed. The aim was to base the approach on a scientific framework and to use scientific data to arrive at indicator scores. This has led to a first set of rough impact score data per type of land use on a global level, for two indicators. Remaining subjective elements are related to the restrictions of the approach: only two indicators are chosen as a basis for expressing land use impacts (vascular plant species diversity and free net primary biomass production), a reference state had to be included to incorporate regional differences, and for biodiversity the measure is relative to the local background biodiversity, leading to relatively low sensitivities to changes. Finally, land use impacts are considered to be proportional to the area which is a common understanding in LCA, but not always agreed upon. It is clear that this operationalisation is at present only in its teens.     

可持续发展指标：发展中国家的决策过程和适用性整合

实现可持续发展已经成为了重要的全球性目标,这反映了公众以及决策者对环境问题日益增长的关注。虽然可持续发展指标为决策提供了坚实的基础,但许多国家特别是发展中国家并没有向可持续发展迈进。本文考查了在发展中国家测量可持续发展指标面临的挑战,这些指标在决策中的有效性和指标对决策过程的影响。特别地,本文将评估这些指标是否被整合到了决策进程中而且是否促进了可持续发展。环境数据的约束,缺乏相关机构的协调,发展中国家资源的缺乏都阻碍了可持续发展指标的测量。水、卫生条件的案例表明在政策和决策过程中整合可持续发展指标的无效性。既要有可持续发展的核心指标集以整合决策者关注环境问题,也要辅助以反映地方关注和文化多样性的地方性指标,这是至关重要的。报告应该包括对环境因素和健康产出相关的分析,也应该相应地转化为对经济的影响。     

The importance of raw material equivalents in economy-wide material flow accounting and its policy dimension

This article presents a comparison of indicators based on an economy-wide material flow analysis, namely imports, exports, domestic material consumption, raw material equivalents of imports, raw material equivalents of exports and raw material consumption. These indicators were calculated for the Czech Republic for 1995–2010 using, besides an economy-wide material flow analysis, the hybrid input–output life cycle assessment method, which allows for a calculation of raw material equivalents of imports and exports. The results show that a calculation of indicators, which include raw material equivalents, is useful, as it provides some important information which is not obvious from imports, exports and domestic material consumption indicators. We have proved that the latter group of indicators provide the incorrect information regarding the environmental pressure trend related to material flows, underestimate the overall pressure related to foreign trade and provide incorrect information on the importance of various material categories in particular indicators. Consequently, in the case of the Czech Republic, the implications stemming from these points such as the very high dependency of the Czech production system on metal ores from abroad and a rather unequal distribution of environmental pressures between the Czech Republic and its trading partners have not been more thoroughly addressed by Czech economic, environmental and sustainability policies so far and present unresolved issues which will have to be dealt with in the future.     

SAFE—A hierarchical framework for assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems

Sustainable development and the definition of indicators to assess progress towards sustainability have become a high priority in scientific research and on policy agendas. In this paper, we propose a consistent and comprehensive framework of principles, criteria and indicators (PC&I) for sustainability assessment of agricultural systems, referred to as the Sustainability Assessment of Farming and the Environment (SAFE) framework. In addition we formulate consistent and objective approaches for indicator identification and selection. The framework is designed for three spatial levels: the parcel level, the farm level and a higher spatial level that can be the landscape, the region or the state. The SAFE framework is hierarchical as it is composed of principles, criteria, indicators and reference values in a structured way. Principles are related to the multiple functions of the agro-ecosystem, which go clearly beyond the production function alone. The multifunctional character of the agro-ecosystem encompasses the three pillars of sustainability: the environmental, economic and social pillars. Indicators and reference values are the end-products of the framework. They are the operational tools that are used for evaluating the sustainability of the agro-ecosystems. The proposed analytical framework is not intended to find a common solution for sustainability in agriculture as a whole, but to serve as an assessment tool for the identification, the development and the evaluation of agricultural production systems, techniques and policies.     

Farm level environmental indicators; are they useful?: An overview of green accounting systems for European farms

Green accounts or input–output accounting systems (IOA) have been developed in countries with intensive agricultural production to facilitate voluntary improvements in farm environmental performance. There is a need for an overview of indicators used and a review of results and experiences reported. Ten IOA systems covering the topics of the farm’s use of nutrients, pesticides and energy were selected from a survey of 55 systems and compared in this paper. The approaches and indicators used vary from systems based on good agricultural practices (GAP) to accounts based systems that use physical input–output units. Many IOA systems use farm gate nutrient balances, pesticide use per hectare and energy use per kilogram product. These indicators are easy to calculate but the resulting value needs separate interpretation for the farmer. Other systems include modeled emissions and rate the yearly farm results using closed scales, which allows for easy interpretation but builds on implicit normative assumptions of best practices. Participating farmers were most often reported to be motivated for the use of IOA but empirical evidence of improved environmental farm performance was scarce. IOA systems should be linked with production planning tools used by the advisory services. Farmers and advisors needs better reference values to evaluate the indicator levels (environmental performance) on the individual farm possibly based on analysis of a larger number of farms. The statistical properties of IOA indicators need to be researched regarding: (1) the relation between changed management practice and changes in indicator values on a given farm over a period of time; (2) the relative importance of systematic versus coincidental differences in environmental performance of a set of farms. It is concluded that IOA systems could become effective tools for agri-environmental improvement of European farms given further development and standardization.     

环境权益及其市场化代理制度

提出了一个以新制度经济学方法分析环境问题及其控制方式的理论模型,并据此提出了当前环境保护工作实现制度创新的思考,其逻辑思路是：由环境资源的稀缺性引起的用于满足人类生存需要和生产需要这两种环境功能之间的矛盾,外化为人类生存性和生产性两型环境权益的冲突;解决这个冲突的两种制度安排─市场和政府─都存在着各自的“失灵”,因此,需要设计和实施一种使两者结合起来的更高形式的制度安排,途径之一是建立和实施以“法律框架、公众参与、代理公司”为要素的“环境权益之市场化代理制度”。当前我国环境保护工作正面临着这种制度创新的契机。     

Challenges in internal environmental management reporting in Argentina

This paper concentrates on the internal reporting methods applied to cleaner production and environmental management accounting programmes in Argentina. Questions on how environmental costs and benefits are defined, the mechanisms adopted to measure the continuing benefits arising from certain changes in management and processes and practical issues of data collection and collation are included. Furthermore, situations in which the ideally desired information is not immediately available from existing accounting or other information systems within the companies are also discussed. The success of communication initiatives, in particular, rests on both the environmental accounting messages and the ability of the users to understand the information. From this perspective, the worksheets included are considered to be an important tool to following the programmes and communicating the results. The integration of data through a set of indicators organised according to an environmentally balanced scorecard methodology may provide important information for decision-makers and add real value to sustainable development by helping people become conscious of sustainability-related matters. In addition, accountants need to know about the information improvements they can obtain using the EMA methodology.     

煤层气区域开发环境影响和管理研究

煤层气开发激励政策和规划的实施,使其区域化和商业化开发将逐步展开。煤层气区域开发有别于常规天然气,主要表现为井网密度大、疏水降压排采和加压集输。大量煤层排水可能污染地表水、降低地下水位、影响水生态、土壤侵蚀等;井网密度大意味着要建设更多的井场、道路、管线、集气压缩站等,则单位面积地表扰动大,导致景观生态破碎化和生态退化等;煤层气压缩机增压集输、其它油气田重型机械、增加的交通流量影响区域声环境质量;压缩机燃气废气、煤层气放空、扬尘对区域大气环境质量产生影响。针对煤层气开发环境问题的特殊性,提出煤层气开发应以水平井为主减少地表扰动。我国水资源极度缺乏,对煤层排水应合理处置,淡水应考虑综合利用,高矿化度水应考虑回注地下。     

旅游发展总体规划环境影响评价指标体系研究

评价指标体系在规划环评中起着评价框架的作用,可以借助于指标体系全面地研究旅游发展总体规划环评.由于规划方案与各种环境影响之间的因果关系、数量关系不明确,旅游发展总体规划环评在收集定量数据、进行定量预测时可能会遇到极大的困难,所以不适合采用＂以本底为导向＂SEA体系.受到定位学派战略形成理论的较大影响,旅游发展总体规划制定者通常的思考程序是先确立规划目标后再确定规划方案.如果从构建可持续发展目标入手,能够更容易让战略制定者从环境、社会方面去考虑战略方案.根据旅游发展总体规划主观性较强的特点,文章认为适宜采用＂以目标为导向＂SEA体系进行规划环评。     

Food security and global environmental change: emerging challenges

Most research linking global environmental change and food security focuses solely on agriculture: either the impact of climate change on agricultural production, or the impact of agriculture on the environment, e.g. on land use, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and/or biodiversity. Important though food production is, many other factors also need to be considered to understand food security. A recent international conference on “Environmental Change and Food Security: Bridging Science, Policy and Development for Adaptation” included a range of papers that embraced the multiple dimensions of the food systems that underpin food security. The major conclusion from the conference was that technical fixes alone will not solve the food security challenge. Adapting to the additional threats to food security arising from major environmental changes requires an integrated food system approach, not just a focus on agricultural practices. Six key issues emerged for future research: (i) adapting food systems to global environmental change requires more than just technological solutions to increase agricultural yields; (ii) tradeoffs across multiple scales among food system outcomes are a pervasive feature of globalized food systems; (iii) within food systems, there are some key underexplored areas that are both sensitive to environmental change but also crucial to understanding its implications for food security and adaptation strategies; (iv) scenarios specifically designed to investigate the wider issues that underpin food security and the environmental consequences of different adaptation options are lacking; (v) price variability and volatility often threaten food security; and (vi) more attention needs to be paid to the governance of food systems.     

Constructing collaborative communities of researchers in the environmental domain. A case study of interdisciplinary research between legal scholars and policy analysts

The article offers an analysis of the interactions between legal and policy science researchers within a European project on flood risk management using a “Policy Arrangement Approach” (PAA). While interdisciplinary research is increasingly becoming a ‘must’ in environmental governance, under what conditions is cooperation possible and desirable? Our analysis shows that the PAA is not mobilized as an interdisciplinary method, but offers a framework for researchers from different disciplines to learn to work together on a subject such as flooding, requiring interdisciplinary insights. The paper shows the steps that are progressively put in place to reach a common language and reformulate issues by benefitting from each other’s view and approaches. The article concludes by drawing attention to new means of knowledge production relating to so-called “messy” or “wicked” problems, such as environmental issues. Within this framework, interdisciplinary work is not considered to be a pre-condition for the study, but rather the result of the research process itself. The analysis draws attention to the actual (working) conditions established to create an interdisciplinary community of flooding practices by challenging disciplinary borders.     

土地利用规划环境影响评价指标体系实证研究

在前人研究的基础上,针对目前土地利用规划环评指标间存在的信息重叠问题,以安徽省当涂县为例,运用SPSS软件基于相关性分析探讨了土地利用规划环评指标体系的建立,并在此基础上运用综合指数对当涂县土地利用规划方案进行评价。结果表明:(1)基于常用的指标体系建立思路(环境影响识别-确定指标体系构建原则-建立指标),增加原始指标定量筛选环节,将能有效避免指标间信息重叠现象的产生,指标的独立性更高;(2)2005年当涂县土地利用规划环境影响评价综合指数为0.734 1,环境、资源、生态及社会经济分项指数分别为0.259 6、0.099 3、0.165 7、0.209 5。规划方案实施后,到2020年全县环境、资源、生态及社会经济分项指数分别为0.304 6、0.107 2、0.256 0、0.327 2,均有不同程度的提高,规划方案可行。     

Linking analyses and environmental Kuznets curves for aggregated material flows in the EU

The relationship between economy and environmental impacts has been an essential topic in the discussion on environmental problems for a long time. From the 1990s, this relationship has gained a position in environmental policy as well. De-coupling the use of natural resources from economic growth has been set as one of the policy goals in the sixth Environmental Action Programme by the European Commission. In the scientific discussion, the concept of environmental Kuznets curve deals closely with the de-coupling or de-linking phenomenon. Aggregated material flows, on the other hand, have often been considered as a macro-level proxy of environmental degradation. Different methods or approaches have been designed for “sustainability” or “carrying capacity” evaluation as well. The objective of this article is (i) to discuss the possibilities and limitations of using environmental and economic indicators in the sustainability analysis at the macro level, (ii) to present a theoretical framework for the linking analysis including a classification of the degrees of de-linking/re-linking environmental impacts from/to economic growth, and (iii) to give an empirical example by using indicators of direct material flows as a proxy of environmental degradation and by applying the framework into the European Union and its 15 member countries. The results show that the trend in the European Union is a weak de-linking of material flows from economic growth during the years 1980–2000. In other words, material intensity of the economy has generally decreased due to increased efficiency, but the absolute amount of material use has increased, although at a lower rate of increase than economic growth. On the other hand, there is a quite large variation between different EU member countries. However, absolute decrease in the use of materials cannot be found as a continuous trend between the years 1980 and 2000 in any of the studied EU member countries.     

Environmental impact of cement production: detail of the different processes and cement plant variability evaluation

This study evaluates the environmental impact of the cement production and its variations between different cement plants, using Life Cycle Impact Assessment. For that purpose, details of the cement production processes are investigated in order to show the respective part of raw materials preparation and clinker production using environmental impacts calculated with CML01 indicators. For the kiln emission data, a European pollutant emission register for French intensive industries is used to quantify the variability of indicators between cement plants. For the CML01 indicators that are controlled by kiln emissions, some of them (i.e. global warming, photochemical oxidation) show variations between cement plants between 20 and 30%, as for other (i.e. acidification, eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity) variations are greater than 40% due to the lack of accurate measurements on both pollutant content and annual flow. Finally, a normalisation, using Western Europe yearly emissions is performed and permits to highlight among all the CML01 indicators which ones are the main impacts for the cement production. Abiotic depletion, global warming, acidification and marine ecotoxicity are the four identified impacts.     

The state of environmental performance evaluation in the public sector: the case of the Portuguese defence sector

The environmental performance evaluation (EPE) of organizations is becoming an autonomous management tool. The main goal of this research was to assess the state of EPE practice in the Portuguese defence sector, as a particular part of public services. A questionnaire survey was conducted involving all Portuguese military units that have a person in charge of environmental issues. The questionnaire was designed to assess: (i) the importance and drivers of EPE; (ii) the ISO 14031 knowledge and implementation; (iii) the knowledge and use of environmental indicators; (iv) the optimal format for indicators; and (v) the advantages and drawbacks of using environmental indicators. Despite various initiatives driving environmental practices in public organizations, most of that experience is only centred on an environmental management system, and EPE is quite a new issue. Nevertheless, general environmental performance evaluation is a growing reality and one in which Portuguese military units are taking an increasing interest. Overall respondents agree on the importance of measuring and communicating environmental performance related to their main missions and activities. The main drivers for EPE in military units are the prevention of health risks and compliance with regulations. However, to date, ISO 14031 and environmental performance indicators are almost unknown in the respondent military units. Among the three military branches, the Navy revealed the worst environmental performance evaluation knowledge, awareness and practice.