Sustainable development indicators : Much wanted, less used?

For the past twenty years, several indicator sets have been produced on international, national and regional levels. Most of the work has concentrated on the selection of the indicators and on collection of the pertinent data, but less attention has been given to the actual users and their needs. This dissertation focuses on the use of sustainable development indicator sets. The dissertation explores the reasons that have deterred the use of the indicators, discusses the role of sustainable development indicators in a policy-cycle and broadens the view of use by recognising three different types of use. The work presents two indicator development processes: The Finnish national sustainable development indicators and the socio-cultural indicators supporting the measurement of eco-efficiency in the Kymenlaakso Region. The sets are compared by using a framework created in this work to describe indicator process quality. It includes five principles supported by more specific criteria. The principles are high policy relevance, sound indicator quality, efficient participation, effective dissemination and long-term institutionalisation. The framework provided a way to identify the key obstacles for use. The two immediate problems with current indicator sets are that the users are unaware of them and the indicators are often unsuitable to their needs. The reasons for these major flaws are irrelevance of the indicators to the policy needs, technical shortcomings in the context and presentation, failure to engage the users in the development process, non-existent dissemination strategies and lack of institutionalisation to promote and update the indicators. The importance of the different obstacles differs among the users and use types. In addition to the indicator projects, materials used in the dissertation include 38 interviews of high-level policy-makers or civil servants close to them, statistics of the national indicator Internet-page downloads, citations of the national indicator publication, and the media coverage of both indicator sets. According to the results, the most likely use for a sustainable development indicator set by policy-makers is to learn about the concept. Very little evidence of direct use to support decision-making was available. Conceptual use is also common for other user groups, namely the media, civil servants, researchers, students and teachers. Decision-makers themselves consider the most obvious use for the indicators to be the promotion of their own views which is a form of legitimising use. The sustainable development indicators have different types of use in the policy cycle and most commonly expected instrumental use is not very likely or even desirable at all stages. Stages of persuading the public and the decision-makers about new problems as well as in formulating new policies employ legitimising use. Learning by conceptual use is also inherent to policy-making as people involved learn about the new situation. Instrumental use is most likely in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. The dissertation is an article dissertation, including five papers that are published in scientific journals and an extensive introductory chapter that discusses and weaves together the papers.

Evaluation of the Q-method as a method of public participation in the selection of sustainable development indicators

The complexity of sustainable development means that it is often difficult to evaluate and communicate the concept effectively. One standard method to reduce complexity and improve Communication, while maintaining scientific objectivity, is to use selected indicators. The aim of this paper is to describe and evaluate a process Of public participation in the selection of sustainable development indicators that utilised the Q-method for discourse analysis. The Q-method was Utilised to combine public opinion with technical expertise to create a list of technically robust indicators that would be relevant to the public, The method comprises statement collection, statement analysis, Q-sorts and Q-sort analysis. The results of the Q-method generated a list of statements for which a preliminary list of indicators was then developed by a team of experts from the fields of environmental science, sustainable development and Psychology. Subsequently members of the public evaluated the preliminary list of indicators, to select a final list of indicators that were both technically sound and incorporated the views of the public. The Utilisation of the Q-method in this process was evaluated using previously published criteria. The application of the Q-method in this context needs to be considered not only by the quality of the indicators developed, but also from the perspective of the benefit of the process to the participants. it was concluded that the Q-method provided an effective framework for public participation in the selection of indicators as it allowed the public to discuss Sustainable development in familiar language and in the context of their daily lives. By combining this information with expert input, a list of technically robust indicators that resonate with the public was developed. The results demonstrated that many citizens are not aware Of Sustainable development, and if it is to be successfully communicated to them, then indicators and policy need to be couched in terms familiar and relevant to citizen and communities. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Putting the pieces back together again: an illustration of the problem of interpreting development indicators using an African case study

Indicators are commonly recommended as tools for assessing the attainment of development, and the current vogue is for aggregating a number of indicators together into a single index. It is claimed that such indices of development help facilitate maximum impact in policy terms by appealing to those who may not necessarily have technical expertise in data collection, analysis and interpretation. In order to help counter criticisms of over-simplification, those advocating such indices also suggest that the raw data be provided so as to allow disaggregation into component parts and hence facilitate a more subtle interpretation if a reader so desires. This paper examines the problems involved with interpreting indices of development by focusing on the United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) published each year in the Human Development Reports (HDRs). The HDI was intended to provide an alternative to the more economic based indices, such as GDP, commonly used within neo-liberal development agendas. The paper explores the use of the HDI as a gauge of human development by making comparisons between two major political and economic communities in Africa (ECOWAS and SADC). While the HDI did help highlight important changes in human development as expressed by the HDI over 10 years, it is concluded that the HDI and its components are difficult to interpret as methodologies have changed significantly and the 'averaging' nature of the HDI could hide information unless care is taken. The paper discusses the applicability of alternative models to the HDI such as the more neo-populist centred methods commonly advocated for indicators of sustainable development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The geography of tyranny and despair: development indicators and the hypothesis of genetic inevitability of national inequality

Development geography has long sought to understand why inequalities exist and the best ways to address them. Dependency theory sets out an historical rationale for under development based on colonialism and a legacy of developed core and under-developed periphery. Race is relevant in this theory only insofar that Europeans are white and the places they colonised were occupied by people with darker skin colour. There are no innate biological reasons why it happened in that order. However, a new theory for national inequalities proposed by Lynn and Vanhanen in a series of publications makes the case that poorer countries have that status because of a poorer genetic stock rather than an accident of history. They argue that IQ has a genetic basis and IQ is linked to ability. Thus races with a poorer IQ have less ability, and thus national IQ can be positively correlated with performance as measured by an indicator like GDP/capita. Their thesis is one of despair, as little can be done to improve genetic stock significantly other than a programme of eugenics. This paper summarises and critiques the Lynn and Vanhanen hypothesis and the assumptions upon which it is based, and uses this analysis to show how a human desire to simplify in order to manage can be dangerous in development geography. While the attention may naturally be focused on the 'national IQ' variables as a proxy measure of 'innate ability', the assumption of GDP per capita as an indicator of 'success' and 'achievement' is far more readily accepted without criticism. The paper makes the case that the current vogue for indicators, indices and cause-effect can be tyrannical.

Methodological Guide for developing Environmental and Sustainable Development Indicators in Latin American and Caribbean countries

This methodological guide is intended as a practical tool for the design and implementation of systems of national indicators to evaluate the success of environmental and sustainable development initiatives, and to define policymaking priorities. The methodology derives from work carried out in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries keeping in mind that the manner in which indicators are constructed and updated has an impact on their overall quality and possible uses.

The application of principal component analysis on human development indicators: Temporal approach from 1999 to 2010

Background and Objective. Ever since the human development index was published in 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), many researchers started searching and corporative studying for more effective methods to measure the human development. Published in 1999, Lai’s “Temporal analysis of human development indicators: principal component approach” provided a valuable statistical way on human developmental analysis. This study presented in the thesis is the extension of Lai’s 1999 research. ^ Methods. I used the weighted principal component method on the human development indicators to measure and analyze the progress of human development in about 180 countries around the world from the year 1999 to 2010. The association of the main principal component obtained from the study and the human development index reported by the UNDP was estimated by the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The main principal component was then further applied to quantify the temporal changes of the human development of selected countries by the proposed Z-test. ^ Results. The weighted means of all three human development indicators, health, knowledge, and standard of living, were increased from 1999 to 2010. The weighted standard deviation for GDP per capita was also increased across years indicated the rising inequality of standard of living among countries. The ranking of low development countries by the main principal component (MPC) is very similar to that by the human development index (HDI). Considerable discrepancy between MPC and HDI ranking was found among high development countries with high GDP per capita shifted to higher ranks. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient between the main principal component and the human development index were all around 0.99. All the above results were very close to outcomes in Lai’s 1999 report. The Z test result on temporal analysis of main principal components from 1999 to 2010 on Qatar was statistically significant, but not on other selected countries, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and U.S.A.^ Conclusion. To synthesize the multi-dimensional measurement of human development into a single index, the weighted principal component method provides a good model by using the statistical tool on a comprehensive ranking and measurement. Since the weighted main principle component index is more objective because of using population of nations as weight, more effective when the analysis is across time and space, and more flexible when the countries reported to the system has been changed year after year. Thus, in conclusion, the index generated by using weighted main principle component has some advantage over the human development index created in UNDP reports.^

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

The Cuban school as a context for a proper development of the environmental perception

Environmental Psychology in Cuba is a new discipline that promotes a historical and cultural vision of mankind. Perception is one of the distinct processes that creates environmental consciousness. Depending on the perception of the environment, individuals interact with it, and vice versa. It means that a good perception of the significant elements of the environment also contributes to the formation of an environmental consciousness, in which perception is one of the main processes. In this transformation the school is one of the most important places for creating knowledge, skills, habits, and good attitudes towards the environment. As a result, the evaluation of the environmental perception development in students allows detecting weaknesses in the environmental education and proposing solutions based on specific problems. This study is based on different researches where the subjects were Cuban students from different educational levels and provides a first approach to the dynamic of the environmental perception development in these individuals. Recent researches have used some dimensions of the environment concept as development indicators: material, relational, intrapersonal, behavioural, cognitive, natural or ecological, and cultural. Generally speaking, different investigations show that school is the right context for environmental education.

Regional Development in Kerala A Study of Malappuram District

The study makes an attempt to examine the inter regional variations in Kerala in economic development with respect to the important indicators of development over the period 1971 to 2001. The study takes districts as the unit of analysis because this is an attempt to find out the status of districts in Kerala.The study proved that there exists inter district disparities in economic development measured in terms of different indices used for analysis.. statistical estimation of variation proves that there is high degree of variation in industrial sector followed by social and economic infrastructure. The composite index of industrial development shows that the highest index is 1.395 which is five times greater than that of the lowest index 0.273. More or less the same pattern of differences are noticed in most of the indicators of the development. A ranking of the district on the basis of the overall development indicators shows that Malappuram is the least developed district in Kerala. In case of almost all indicators of development Malappuram is lagging behind all other districts.

Double burden malnutrition of preschool children and its association with brain development and milk consumption

Protecting the quality of children growth and development becomes a supreme qualification for the betterment of a nation. Double burden child malnutrition is emerging worldwide which might have a strong influence to the quality of child brain development and could not be paid-off on later life. Milk places a notable portion during the infancy and childhood. Thus, the deep insight on milk consumption pattern might explain the phenomenon of double burden child malnutrition correlated to the cognitive impairments. Objective: Current study is intended (1) to examine the current face of Indonesian double burden child malnutrition: a case study in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, (2) to investigate the association of this phenomenon with child brain development, and (3) to examine the contribution of socioeconomic status and milk consumption on this phenomenon so that able to formulate some possible solutions to encounter this problem. Design: A cross-sectional study using a structured coded questionnaire was conducted among 387 children age 5-6 years old and their parents from 8 areas in Bogor, West-Java, Indonesia on November 2012 to December 2013, to record some socioeconomic status, anthropometric measurements, and history of breast feeding. Diet and probability of milk intake was assessed by two 24 h dietary recalls and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Usual daily milk intake was calculated using Multiple Source Method (MSM). Some brain development indicators (IQ, EQ, learning, and memory ability) using Projective Multi-phase Orientation method was also executed to learn the correlation between double burden child malnutrition and some brain development indicator. Results and conclusions: A small picture of child double burden malnutrition is shown in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, where prevalence of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is 27.1%, Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) is 24.9%, and overnutrition is 7.7%. This phenomenon proves to impair the child brain development. The malnourished children, both under- and over- nourished children have significantly (P-value<0.05) lower memory ability compared to the normal children (memory score, N; SAM = 45.2, 60; MAM = 48.5, 61; overweight = 48.4, 43; obesity = 47.9, 60; normal = 52.4, 163). The plausible reasons behind these evidences are the lack of nutrient intake during the sprout growth period on undernourished children or increasing adiposity on overnourished children might influence the growth of hippocampus area which responsible to the memory ability. Either undernutrition or overnutrition, the preventive action on this problem is preferable to avoid ongoing cognitive performance loss of the next generation. Some possible solutions for this phenomenon are promoting breast feeding initiation and exclusive breast feeding practices for infants, supporting the consumption of a normal portion of milk (250 to 500 ml per day) for children, and breaking the chain of poverty by socioeconomic improvement. And, the national food security becomes the fundamental point for the betterment of the next. In the global context, the causes of under- and over- nutrition have to be opposed through integrated and systemic approaches for a better quality of the next generation of human beings.

Body size at birth, physical development and cognitive outcomes in early childhood: evidence from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children

Using a rich sample created from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, we investigate the extent to which the relationship between body size at birth and early childhood cognitive skills is mediated by physical development indicators. Consistent with existing evidence from other countries, we find a significant relationship between body size at birth and future development among Australian children as well, in terms of both weight and length. Accounting for progressive measures of physical developments and other confounding factors, however, indicates that only a small proportion of this association works through these pathways, while most of it remains persistent.