Research project HL/DD/17 (Research action HL)
The implementation of sustainable development strategies hinges on the search for a balance between the aims of human and economic development on the one hand, and a concern for the long-term preservation of natural resources and the environment on the other.
In order to be able to implement these strategies it is useful to have information systems which allow a concrete assessment of the quality of development of an entity not only in an economic sense, but also when social and environmental aspects are taken into account. This requirement is acknowledged in particular in the Agenda 21, which evokes both the need for integrated information and invites governments and major international organisations to develop and carry out studies on the establishment of sustainable development indicators.
The present research fits into this framework. Its principal task is to define and apply a set of indicators which allow to assess the situations and developments in sectors where the challenges posed by sustainable development are of capital importance, i.e. in transport and agriculture. Generally speaking, sector-based indicators must provide information on activities acting as a hindrance to the implementation of sustainable development, and so encourage a more efficient integration into the sector-based policy of issues relating to sustainability.
The sets of indicators aim to provide both a synthesis and a multidimensional view of the challenges, i.e. driving forces and key trends in transport and agriculture on a national scale. In addition, they also aim to permit a follow-up of progress made in the direction of more sustainable systems. The interest of this project lies in its desire to carry our a sector-based but integrated approach applicable to Belgium (without losing sight of the international context).
To be more precise, our research is mainly based on :
- developing a general approach to the concepts of sustainable transport and agriculture;
- developing a conceptual and methodological framework for the establishment of a set of sustainable development indicators for the sectors under study taking into account the experience gathered by major international organisations and other countries;
- developing methodology sheets for all the indicators previously selected. These sheets provide information on the indicators and, in particular, answer the need for a certain level of harmonisation at an international level;
- the application, evaluation and presentation in a clear and eloquent manner of the indicators selected.
Briefly, this work offers a contribution on three major levels, i.e. :
- its participation in the thinking devoted to the "operationalisation" of the concept of sustainable development - in the present case in connection with its application to the issues associated with mobility and agriculture;
- a contribution to the effort to establish sets of environmental and sustainable development indicators (with particular reference to transport and agriculture) at different levels;
- a concrete application of the indicators which will highlight certain progress and setbacks experienced by Belgium in relation to the challenges posed by sustainable development in the areas under study.
Provided that they are kept up to date on a regular basis, once finalised these sets of indicators can be used as :
- an aid and support to the integrated decision (identification and awareness of the problems from a holistic point of view; assessment of performances);
- a tool to inform and heighten the awareness of the different actors in society;
- an aid in the structuring and standardisation of assessment reports;
- a guideline for the development of programmes for the collection and analysis of more specific data.
The main users targeted by this project are the different decision-makers at federal and regional levels (particularly those working in areas of activity able to influence trends in matters relating to the sustainability of transport and agriculture) and the associative world.
Concerning the theme 'Sustainable agriculture', the selection of 22 indicators was also based on interviews with different actors active in the field of agriculture, sustainable development or indicators (federal and regional administrations, scientific environments, interest groups). Certain relevant indicators were admitted, although data are not yet disposed of within a reasonable cost-benefit relation. These indicators can stimulate the development of data sources and standardised measuring methods, in order to assure the application of these indicators in the future.
The themes within which the 22 elaborated indicators were developed, are food security, food quality, genetic modification, subsidy regime, importation/exportation, financial situation of the farm/job satisfaction (2), employment, education of the farmer, social perspectives of the farmer, position of the farmer in the production chain (2), organic farming (3), pesticides, contribution of agriculture to environmental problems on a small scale, erosion of the soil, manure problem, landscape aspects, acidification and animal well-being. Nine indicators are of the state-type, seven of the driving force-type and six of the response-type. Eleven indicators reveal mainly environmental aspects, nine reveal economic aspects and two reveal social aspects. The indicators within the subsidy regime theme, reveal not only economic but also institutional aspects.
Methodology
The development of a set of indicators permitting a coherent and global approach requires the prior development of a conceptual and methodological framework ("vision" of sustainable transport; type of approach, levels of the approach; choice and organisation of the topics dealt with; criteria for the selection of the indicators; contents of the their methodology sheets, etc.) to underpin the development of the set. Briefly, the development of the frame of reference and the preliminary set of indicators was based on three major and complementary axes laid down in parallel, i.e.
I. The development of a "vision" of sustainable transport and agriculture (sources of non-sustainablity; general objectives and principles; potential levers for the sustainable development of these sectors in the Belgian context).
II. The analysis of action programmes and reference texts with a bearing on transport and mobility/agriculture.
III. The study of existing work on sustainable development (working methods; type of approach; objectives pursued; choice of indicators, etc.) with particular reference tot he sectors under study.
The preliminary list of indicators was then assessed on the basis of :
IV. A process of consultation of an indicatory nature (a questionnaire).
V. The application of selection criteria linked to the general relevance of the indicators, to their analytical robustness, to the quality and availability of the basic data and, to a lesser extent, to their communication potential; this assessment also took account of comparable work carried out by other institutions.
In this way, a personal approach that enables original elements to be isolated and certain national characteristics to be taken into account is combined by the methodology with a parallel "bottom-up" approach which enables convergences to be established with other initiatives in the development of indicators and account to be taken of the opinions expressed by persons in a position to make use of the indicators or who work in the areas under investigation. Taking account of work on the indicators carried out by major institutions answers the double motivation of profiting from their experience with statistical data, assessment and reporting, and of attaining a certain level of cross-indicators harmonisation in the future.
The second major facet of our work concerns the establishing of theme-based sheets which include the use and evaluation of the indicators selected (temporal trends; possible disparities or divergences from existing objectives and norms; analyses enabling disparities to be highlighted in function of geographical or social criteria) and also their methodological presentation (political relevance; methodological foundations; typology; data sources, etc.).
working paper nr 8: Elaboration d'indicateurs de développement durable pour la Belgique
J. De Villers, T. Bauler (ULB - CEESE);
S. Bogaert, Dirk Le Roy (ECOLAS)
Elaboration et application d'un set d'indicateurs de développement durable des transports en Belgique
Première partie et annexes: approche conceptuelle et méthodologique pour l'élaboration du set d'indicateurs
Hecq, Walter Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0763)
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[Exhausted]
Elaboration et application d'un set d'indicateurs de développement durabledes transports en Belgique
Seconde partie (1): description méthodologique, application et évaluation des indicateurs
Hecq, Walter Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0764)
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[Exhausted]
Elaboration et application d'un set d'indicateurs de développement durable des transports en Belgique
Seconde partie (2): données contextuelles
Hecq, Walter Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0765)
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[Exhausted]
Elaboration et application d'un set d'indicateurs de développement durable des transports en Belgique: résumé exécutif
Bruxelles: SSTC, 2001 (SP0766)
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Ontwikkeling en toepassing van Indicatoren voor een Duurzame Landbouw in België: eindverslag, eerste deel
Bogaert, Sarah - Deconinck, Mieke - Le Roy, Dirk Brussel: DWTC, 1999 (SP0767)
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Ontwikkeling en toepassing van Indicatoren voor een Duurzame Landbouw in België: eindverslag, tweede deel: methodologische fiches
Bogaert, Sarah - Deconinck, Mieke - Le Roy, Dirk Brussel: DWTC, 1999 (SP0768)
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[Exhausted]
Ontwikkeling en toepassing van Indicatoren voor een Duurzame Landbouw in België: samenvatting
Bogaert, Sarah - Deconinck, Mieke - Le Roy, Dirk Brussel: DWTC, 1999 (SP0769)
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Development and application of indicators of sustainable development in Belgium: summary
Bogaert, Sarah - Deconinck, Mieke - Le Roy, Dirk Brussels: OSTC, 2001 (SP0770)
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