Sustainability Principles by Group and Sector

Principles of Sustainability
BY GROUP AND SECTOR

BY GROUP: The Bellagio Principles
International Institute for Sustainable Development

These principles serve as guidelines for the whole of the assessment process including the choice and design of indicators, their interpretation and communication of the result.

They should be applied as a complete set. They are intended for use in starting and improving assessment activities of community groups, non-government organizations, corporations, national governments, and international institutions.

Overview

These principles deal with four aspects of assessing progress toward sustainable development.

Principle 1 deals with the starting point of any assessment - establishing a vision of sustainable development and clear goals that provide a practical definition of that vision in terms that are meaningful for the decision-making unit in question.

Principles 2 through 5 deal with the content of any assessment and the need to merge a sense of the overall system with a practical focus on current priority issues.

Principles 6 through 8 deal with key issues of the process of assessment, while Principles 9 and 10 deal with the necessity for establishing a continuing capacity for assessment.

1. Guiding Vision and Goals
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should be guided by a clear vision of sustainable development and goals that define that vision.

2. Holistic Perspective
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

include review of the whole system as well as its parts

consider the well-being of social, ecological, and economic sub-systems, their state as well as the direction and rate of change of that state, of their component parts, and the interaction between parts

consider both positive and negative consequences of human activity, in a way that reflects the costs and benefits for human and ecological systems, in monetary and non-monetary terms

3. Essential Elements
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

consider equity and disparity within the current population and between present and future generations, dealing with such concerns as resource use, over-consumption and poverty, human rights, and access to services,

as appropriate consider the ecological conditions on which life depends

consider economic development and other, non-market activities that contribute to human/social well-being

4. Adequate Scope
Assessment of progress toward sustainability should:

adopt a time horizon long enough to capture both human and ecosystem time scales thus responding to current short term decision-making needs as well as those of future generations

define the space of study large enough to include not only local but also long distance impacts on people and ecosystems

build on historic and current conditions to anticipate future conditions: where do we want to go, where could we go

5. Practical Focus
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should be based on:

an explicit set of categories or an organizing framework that links vision and goals to indicators and assessment criteria

a limited number of key issues for analysis

a limited number of indicators or indicator combinations to provide a clearer signal of progress, standardizing measurement wherever possible to permit comparison comparing indicator values to targets, reference values, ranges, thresholds, or direction of trends, as appropriate

6. Openness
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

make the methods and data that are used accessible to all

make explicit all judgments, assumptions, and uncertainties in data and interpretations

7. Effective Communication
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

be designed to address the needs of the audience and set of users

draw from indicators and other tools that are stimulating and serve to engage decision-makers

aim, from the outset, for simplicity in structure and use of clear and plain language

8. Broad Participation
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

obtain broad representation of key grass-roots, professional, technical and social groups, including youth, women, and indigenous people to ensure recognition of diverse and changing values

ensure the participation of decision-makers to secure a firm link to adopted policies and resulting action

9. Ongoing Assessment
Assessment of progress toward sustainable development should:

develop a capacity for repeated measurement to determine trends

be iterative, adaptive, and responsive to change and uncertainty because systems are complex and change frequently

adjust goals, frameworks, and indicators as new insights are gained

promote development of collective learning and feedback to decision-making

10. Institutional Capacity
Continuity of assessing progress toward sustainable development should be assured by:

clearly assigning responsibility and providing ongoing support in the decision-making process

providing institutional capacity for data collection, maintenance, and documentation

supporting development of local assessment capacity

BY SECTOR: Transportation

Draft Canadian Government Sustainable Transportation Principles
Source: OECD International Conference, Vancouver, 24-27 March 1996
Also detailed in: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). 1996. Eight Principles for Sustainable Transportation. Ecodecision 21 (Summer 1996): 12-13.

Note: The following set of principles was developed by Canada's National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy through a consultative process with a number of Canadian transportation stakeholders.
They were developed at the request of Canada's Environment Minister to serve as a starting point for a discussion about principles at the Conference.
These principles have been discussed by the National Round Table, though they have not been formally endorsed. They are designed to encourage thought and discussion about some of the key challenges facing the transportation sector.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Our aim is to develop transportation systems that maintain or improve human and ecosystem well-being together - not one at the expense of the other.

Due to varying environmental, social and economic conditions between and within countries, there is no single best way to achieve sustainable transportation systems.

A set of guiding principles can be described, however, upon which transition strategies should be built. We recognize the fundamental importance of,

ACCESS:
Access to people, places, goods and services is important to the social and economic well being of communities. Transportation is a key means, but not the only means, through which access can be achieved.

Principle #1: Access
People are entitled to reasonable access to other people, places, goods and services.

PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES:
Transportation systems are a critical element of a strong economy, but can also contribute directly to building community and enhancing quality of life.

Principle #2: Equity

Principle #3: Health and Safety
Transportation systems should be designed and operated in a way that protects the health (physical, mental and social well-being) and safety of all people, and enhances the quality of life in communities.

Principle #4: Individual Responsibility
All individuals have a responsibility to act as stewards of the natural environment, undertaking to make sustainable choices with regard to personal movement and consumption.

Principle #5: Integrated Planning
Transportation decision makers have a responsibility to pursue more integrated approaches to planning.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:
Human activities can overload the environment's finite capacity to absorb waste, physically modify or destroy habitats, and use resources more rapidly than they can be regenerated or replaced.
Efforts must be made to develop transportation systems that minimize physical and biological stress, staying within the assimilative and regenerative capacities of ecosystems, and respecting the habitat requirements of other species.

Principle #6: Pollution Prevention

Principle #7: Land and Resource Use
Transportation systems must make efficient use of land and other natural resources while ensuring the preservation of vital habitats and other requirements for maintaining biodiversity.

ECONOMIC VIABILITY: Sustainable transportation systems must be cost effective. If adjustment costs are incurred in the transition to more sustainable transportation systems they should be equitably shared, just as current costs should be more equitably shared.

Principle #8: Fuller Cost Accounting

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