Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:19:13.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Methodological Problems in Evaluating Sustainability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Christopher R. Cocklin
Christopher R. Cocklin
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland, New Zealand.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

To embody the concept of sustainability in environmental management and development planning has latterly become recognized internationally as a priority for the future. Governments in many countries have consequently dedicated substantial funds to the task of defining planning and management strategies that are sustainable. Somewhat surprisingly, however, there has been very little attention given so far to establishing appropriate frameworks within which to evaluate the implications of planning and policy alternatives for sustainability.

One of the most important questions to be addressed in evaluation exercises relates to the conflicts among different systems – economic, social, and biophysical – that may be realized in pursuing development options that may be sustainable. It is also important to establish whether the pursuit of sustainability may compromise the capability to fulfil other important societal goals and objectives. If the potential for these various conflicts can be discerned, then it may also be possible to identify development strategies that minimize conflict, while simultaneously achieving sustainability.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , Winter 1989 , pp. 343 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altieri, Miguel A. (1987). Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA: xvii + 227 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Barbier, Edward B. (1987). The concept of sustainable economic development. Environmental Conservation, 14(2). pp. 101–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boulding, Kenneth E. (1966). The economics of the coming spaceship Earth. Pp. 3–14 in Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy (Ed. Jarrett, Henry). Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA: xv + 173 pp.Google Scholar
Brown, Becky J., Hanson, Mark E., Liverman, Diana M. & Meredith, Robert W. jun. (1987). Global sustainability: toward definition. Environmental Management, 11(6), pp. 713–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charnes, Abraham, Haynes, Kingsley E., Hazleton, Jared E. & Ryan, Michael J. (1975). A hierarchical goal-programming approach to environmental land-use management. Geographical Analysis, 7(2), pp. 121–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cocklin, Christopher (1988). Environmental values, conflicts and issues in evaluation. The Environmentalist, 8(2), pp. 93–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cocklin, Christopher, Lonergan, Stephen & Smit, Barry (1988). Assessing conflicts in the use of rural resources: an analytical framework. Journal of Rural Studies, 4(1), pp. 9–20, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, Herman E. (Ed.) (1973). Towards a Steady State Economy. Freeman, San Francisco, California, USA: x + 332 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Dane, C.W., Meador, Nancy C. & White, John B. (1977). Goal programming in land-use planning. Journal of Forestry, 75(6), pp. 325–9.Google Scholar
Department of Conservation (1988). Natural Resource Management: A Conservation Approach. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand: 8 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Environment Canada (1988). Sustainable Development and Land. Sustainable Development, 9(2), p. 1.Google Scholar
Jianming, Jin (1987). Protecting biological resources to sustain human progress. Ambio, 16(5), pp. 262–6.Google Scholar
Lonergan, Stephen (1985). Characterizing sub-optimal solutions in regional planning policy. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 19(3), pp. 167–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonergan, Stephen & Cocklin, Christopher (1988). The use of lexicographic goal programming in economic/ecological conflict analysis. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 22(2), pp. 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAllister, Donald M. (1982). Evaluation in Environmental Planning. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: xi + 308 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Manning, Edward W. (1986). Towards Sustainable Land Use: A Strategy. Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: vii + 44 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Meadows, Donella H. & Dennis, L., Randers, Jorgen & Behrens, William W. III (1975). The Limits to Growth, 2nd edn (rev.). Signet, New York, NY, USA: xix + 207 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Nijkamp, Peter (1980). Environmental Policy Analysis: Operational Methods and Models. John Wiley & Sons, New York. NY, USA: xvi + 283 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Rees, Judith A. (1985). Natural Resources: Allocation, Economics and Policy. Methuen, London, England, UK: xvii + 449 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Schumacher, E.F. (1974). Small is Beautiful. Abacus, London, England, UK: 255 pp.Google Scholar
Smit, Barry & Brklacich, Michael (in press). Sustainable development and the analysis of rural systems. (Paper presented at the meeting of the International Geographic Union Commission on Changing Rural Systems, Auckland, New Zealand. 15–19 08 1989: Department of Geography, University of Auckland, New Zealand: 12 pp., mimeogr.) Journal of Rural Studies.Google Scholar
Swartzman, Gordon L. & Dyne, George M. van (1975). Land allocation decisions: a mathematical programming framework focusing on quality of life. Journal of Environmental Management, 3(2), pp. 105–32.Google Scholar
Watts, William (1975). Foreword. Pp. ix–xii in Meadows, et al. (q.v.).Google Scholar
Werczberger, Elia (1976). A goal-programming model for industrial location involving environmental considerations. Environment and Planning A, 8(2), pp. 173–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westman, W.E. (1978). Measuring the inertia and resilience of ecosystems. BioScience, 28(11), pp. 705–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development [cited as WCED] (1987). Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK: xv + 400 pp.Google Scholar