Sustainability indicators: the problem of integration

Stephen Morse, Nora McNamara, Moses Acholo and Benjamin Okwoli
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Stephen Morse: Department of Geography, University of Reading, Reading, UK, Postal: Department of Geography, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Nora McNamara: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria, Postal: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria
Moses Acholo: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria, Postal: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria
Benjamin Okwoli: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria, Postal: Diocesan Development Services, POB 114, Idah, Kogi State, Nigeria

Sustainable Development, 2001, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Sustainability indicators (SIs) are increasingly seen as important tools in the implementation of sustainable development. Numerous suggested SI lists and matrices exist, but a remaining problem is how these diverse SIs are to be integrated into an answer as to whether something is sustainable or not. In some studies of sustainability workers have adopted a quantitative integration approach whereby SIs are given numerical values and integrated mathematically to produce a value for sustainability. In this paper the authors discuss SI integration by drawing upon the results of a six-year research project based in a village in Nigeria. They conclude that an element of'qualitative integration' incorporating value judgements and subjectivity is inevitable with a concept such as sustainability, even if one begins with what may seem like sharp and quantitative SIs. It is argued that SIs are primarily a product of development intervention rather than a desire to understand, and as a result carry with them the desired characteristics, from the donor perspective, of efficiency and accountability. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Date: 2001
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:9:y:2001:i:1:p:1-15

DOI: 10.1002/sd.148

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