Substantial work on indicators of sustainability is
already underway both within Canada and internationally. The first
phase of the NRTEE's work on the ESDI Initiative has included surveying
a range of these approaches to sustainable development indicators.
The NRTEE has also engaged and supported a number of the key expert
groups and organizations working on indicators in Canada.
The NRTEE's efforts have highlighted
the fact that many communities, governments, businesses, international
agencies and non-governmental organizations are attempting to develop
new means to access and report on progress toward various aspects
of sustainable development.
Different sustainability indicators are
designed to achieve different goals. For example two prominent Canadian
Initiatives - the Alberta
Genuine Progress Indicator Accounting Project (Pembina Institute)
and the Genuine
Progress Index for Nova Scotia (GPI Atlantic) are working towards
evaluating a wide range of social and environmental factors at the
provincial level. Instead of tracking sustainability, initiatives
such as the Canadian
Policy Research Networks' Quality of Life Indicators Project
focus on quality of life or well-being.
The research papers featured have been
commissioned by the NRTEE through the ESDI Initiative. Additional
research documents will be posted as they become available.
The next phase of the ESDI Initiative
will focus on identifying existing indicator and data collection
initiatives, in order to develop a national set of indicators.
Background
Research
Technical
Guidelines for Indicator Selection (Alice
Born, Claude Simard, and Rob Smith, Statistics Canada)
Summary
of the Conceptual
Framework for a National Set of Environment and Sustainable Development
Indicators
A Proposed Approach
to Environment and Sustainable Development Indicators Based on Capital
(Claude Simard & Rob Smith, Statistics Canada and Andrew
Sharpe, Centre for the Study of Living Standards)
Review
Paper on Selected Capital-Based Sustainable Development Indicator
Frameworks (Peter Hardi, International Institute for Sustainable
Development)
Proposed Framework
on Human Capital Indicators (Andrew Sharpe, Centre for the Study
of Living Standards)
Discussion
Paper on Health and Education Human Capital Indicators (Andrew
Sharpe, Centre for the Study of Living Standards)
Lessons learned though Canadian Indicator Initiatives
(Overviews of the Genuine Progress
Indicator (GPI) Alberta and the Genuine
Progress Indicator (GPI) Atlantic Initiatives)
Learning
from Citizens What Matters for Quality of Life:
Quality of Life Indicators Project (Canadian Policy Research
Networks)
Summary of the GPI Agriculture
Accounts, Report #1
Farm Economic Viability in Nova Scotia
The GPI Agriculture Accounts
Report #2: Resource Capacity and Use Summary
The Nova
Scotia GPI Fisheries & Marine Environment Accounts
Towards
a Measurement of Ecological Integrity - Summary Report
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