Development of agri-environmental indicators to assess dairy farm sustainability in Quebec,Eastern Canada

Agri-environmental indicators are commonly used to assess agricultural sustainability. In North America, few are designed to be easily used by dairy farmers. As farmers assume more responsibility for managing natural resources, they play an increasingly important role in assessing sustainable agriculture. This paper describes the development of an indicator-based self-assessment tool for use at the farm level to evaluate dairy farm sustainability from an environmental standpoint. The agri-environmental indicator set was selected by using two participatory processes: the Delphi method and a focus group. The framework for developing the assessment tool consisted of six steps: (1) Defining the concept of environmental sustainability at the farm level; (2) setting up goals and principles for the assessment; (3) identifying potential indicators and selecting candidate indicators; (4) defining reference values, aggregating indicators into components, and establishing relative weights for indicators; (5) testing the candidate indicators on dairy farms, and (6) selecting the final indicator set. Six criteria were used to evaluate either the practicality or usefulness of indicators. Thirteen indicators were chosen, one of which was divided into four sub-indicators. These indicators were aggregated into four components: soil quality, cropping practices, fertilization management, and farmland management. Expert participation was the first validation of the indicator set. A compromise between feasibility, practicality, and relevance of measurement was found among indicators. When applied to 40 farms over two contrasting regions, the indicator set identified scores that differed according to production context. The tool is user-friendly and well-adapted to dairy farming systems.     

Assessing sustainability at farm-level: Lessons learned from a comparison of tools in practice

In the past decades a wide variety of tools have been developed to assess the sustainability performance of farms. Although multiple studies have compared tools on a theoretical basis, little attention has been paid to the comparing tools in practice. This research compared indicator-based sustainability assessment tools to gain insight in practical requirements, procedures and complexity involved in applying sustainability assessment tools. In addition, the relevance of the tools, as perceived by farmers, was evaluated. An overview of 48 indicator-based sustainability assessment tools was developed to, subsequently, select tools that address the environmental, social and economic dimension of sustainability, are issued in a scientific publication and suitable for assessing the sustainability performance of livestock and arable farms in Denmark. Only four tools (RISE, SAFA, PG and IDEA) complied with the selection criteria and were used to assess the sustainability performance of five Danish farms. The tools vary widely in their scoring and aggregation method, time requirement and data input. The farmers perceived RISE as the most relevant tool to gain insight in the sustainability performance of their farm. The findings emphasize the importance of context specificity, user-friendliness, complexity of the tool, language use, and a match between value judgements of tool developers and farmers. Even though RISE was considered as the most relevant tool, the farmers expressed a hesitation to apply the outcomes of the four tools in their decision making and management. Furthermore, they identified limitations in their options to improve their sustainability performance. Additional efforts are needed to support farmers in using the outcomes in their decision making. The outcomes of sustainability assessment tools should therefore be considered as a starting point for discussion, reflection and learning.     

An interdisciplinary study on indicators: A comparative review of quality-of-life,macroeconomic, environmental,welfare and sustainability indicators

It is generally recognised that indicator-based research forms a substantial part both of the everyday practice and of the current theoretical pursuits in an extensive set of different scientific fields that relate to the socio-economic and the environmental sphere. However, the lack of an endogenous indicator's theory hinders the enhancement of indicator's research into an autonomous scientific field and subdues the indicators study to the broader ecological, social, or economic context. Thus, scientists are often bounded to the study of indicators within their specialisation area, as evidenced by the very limited number of interdisciplinary studies on the use of indicators that have been published. Based on this deficiency of the current literature, the paper elaborates on the use of indicators in the socio-economic and the environmental area, focusing on fields in which indicators are essential to their practice. Namely, the paper reviews quality-of-life, macroeconomic, environmental, welfare and sustainability indicators in order to detect similarities and differences, pertain to their practice and to the theoretical frameworks in which indicators are utilised. The study concludes that quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators are supported by weak theoretical foundations, as a result to the choice of the respective fields to exploit the possible benefits of an empirical interdisciplinary perspective, a fact that leads the use of indicators to methodological inconsistencies. In contrast, macroeconomic and environmental indicators are supported by a coherent theoretical body, which is reflected in their well-organised structure and leads to their sound practice. Last but not least, the study suggests that the way the aforementioned two fields utilise indicators can provide useful guidance to the formation of future objectives in the quality-of-life, welfare and sustainability indicators’ research. Specifically, their corresponding fields should moderate their interest on composite indicators and, instead, their future research should be focused, so much on the identification of their field's key indicators that play a crucial role to the interpretation of the complex phenomena studied, as on the identification of the relationships that link these key indicators together.     

Meta-performance evaluation of sustainability indicators

There are many different kinds of frameworks for evaluating environmental and sustainability performance at the organizational level (profit or not-for-profit, private or public), sectoral level (e.g. industry, transport, agriculture and tourism), and local, regional or country levels. Despite the diversity of methods and tools to measure sustainable development, indicators are one of the approaches most used. However, these tools do not usually include evaluation of the performance measurement instrument itself. The main objective of this research is to develop a conceptual framework to design and assess the effectiveness of the sustainability indicators themselves. To put the proposed tool into practice, a set of key good-practice factors and meta-performance evaluation indicators is proposed for adoption in a national case study—the national sustainable development indicators system, SIDS Portugal, and the usefulness of this methodology is demonstrated. This approach aims to evaluate how appropriate a set of sustainability indicators is and allow an evaluation of overall performance-monitoring activities and results. Stakeholder involvement is an essential component of the proposed framework. The tool developed could support continuous improvement in the performance of ongoing sustainability indicator initiatives, allowing greater guidance, objectivity and transparency in sustainability assessment processes.     

An Index of Regional Sustainability: A GIS-based multiple criteria analysis decision support system for progressing sustainability

GIS (Geographical Information Systems) based decision support tools will be useful in helping guide regions to sustainability. These tools need to be simple but effective at identifying, for regional managers, areas most in need of initiatives to progress sustainability. Multiple criteria analysis (MCA) has been used as a decision support tool for a wide number of applications, as it provides a systematic framework for evaluating various options. It has the potential to be used as a tool for sustainability assessment, because it can bring together the sustainability criteria from all pillars, social, economic and environmental, to give an integrated assessment of sustainability. Furthermore, the use of GIS and MCA together is an emerging addition to conducting sustainability assessments.This paper further develops a sustainability assessment framework developed for the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority region of Victoria, Australia by providing a GIS-based decision support system for regional agencies. This tool uses multiple criteria analysis in a GIS framework to assess the sustainability of sub-catchments in the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment. The multiple criteria analysis based on economic, social and environmental indicators developed in previous stages of this project was used as the basis to build a model in ArcGIS^®. The GIS-based multiple criteria analysis, called An Index of Regional Sustainability Spatial Decision Support System (AIRS SDSS), produced maps showing sub-catchment sustainability, and environmental, social and economic condition. As a result, this tool is able to highlight those sub-catchments most in need of assistance with achieving sustainability. It will also be a valuable tool for evaluation and monitoring of strategies for sustainability. This paper shows the usefulness of GIS-based multiple criteria analysis to enhance the monitoring and evaluation of sustainability at the regional to sub-catchment scale.     

The INDICARE-model – measuring and caring about participation in higher education's sustainability assessment

The implementation of sustainability in higher education has been advanced over at least the last two decades and brought sustainability assessment on the research agenda of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and sustainability science. Participatory approaches have gained increasing attention in these endeavours, but remain often vague and less addressed in sustainability assessment procedures. To fill in this gap, an indicator-based model, INDICARE, was developed that can assist in assessing participatory processes within higher education's sustainability initiatives. The objective of this paper is to introduce and discuss the model's theoretical background, its structure, applicability, and how it can broaden the perspectives on participation and sustainability assessment in the university context.Embedded in a cross-sectional qualitative research design, the model was developed in iterative stages and was presented and adjusted along six feedback loops, having been presented to 98 persons during conferences, workshops and university meetings. Inspired by biophilic ideas, transformative learning theories and participatory evaluation, INDICARE follows an ecocentric and integrative perspective that places the earth and its community at the centre of attention. A preliminary set of thirty indicators and practices, grouped in three categories of context, process, and transformation, is proposed. The assessment process itself is considered as a thought-provoking exercise rather than as a control tool and emphasizes the interplay of personal reflection and action-oriented outreach. INDICARE intends to invigorate the sustainability debate in higher education, in particular by proposing a more holistic approach to assessment that underlines experiencing the interconnectedness of human–nature relationships, combined with reflective exercises that can respond better to the call for transformation on individual and institutional level.     

A sensitivity analysis to methodological variation in indicator-based urban sustainability assessment: a Quebec case study

Methodological factors are often acknowledged for their impact on the urban sustainability assessment outcomes. The significance of this impact, however, divides those who assign it great importance; to the point of compromising any attempt at sustainability benchmarking using indicators, from those who regard it as having a relatively limited role. In this paper, we aim to contribute to this debate by assessing how methodological choices could influence the variation in the outcomes of indicator-based urban sustainability benchmarking. The paper starts with a literature review outlining the evolution of the approaches adopted since the pioneering experiences in the ‘90s to show a convergence in indicators and data over time. Subsequently, by using the data of the 25 most populous cities in Quebec, we empirically analyse the sensitivity of the cities’ sustainability scores to 18 combinations of estimation techniques, and observe consistency within the outcomes while maintaining general patterns regardless of the approach used. The results suggest that methodological choices play a limited role in the urban sustainability assessment outcomes. Thus, other determinants beyond the evaluation methods are most likely involved and therefore should be a major focus in future research agendas.     

Monitoring sustainability in insular areas

The notion of sustainability is used widely at the policy level, but only few approaches deal with its measurement, especially at the local level. Here, we develop and apply a practical tool for the estimation of the sustainability state at the island level with the use of indicators selected and adapted from international agencies and institutes, in a framework which is an expanded version of the DPSR approach. The identification of the significant sustainability state factors and the selection of the indicators are based on areas’ characteristics, namely their insularity and the fact that they are in the Mediterranean. The values of these indicators were obtained or calculated for the islands of Paros and Kos in Greece. The findings reveal that the method can be of great use for the sustainability evaluation and for planning the sustainable development of islands.     

A parcel-scale assessment tool to measure sustainability through urban ecosystem components: The MUSIX model

In recent years a number of urban sustainability assessment frameworks are developed to better inform policy formulation and decision-making processes. This paper introduces one of these attempts in developing a comprehensive assessment tool—i.e., Micro-level Urban-ecosystem Sustainability IndeX (MUSIX). Being an indicator-based indexing model, MUSIX investigates the environmental impacts of land-uses on urban sustainability by measuring urban ecosystem components in local scale. The paper presents the methodology of MUSIX and demonstrates the performance of the model in a pilot test-bed—i.e., in Gold Coast, Australia. The model provides useful insights on the sustainability performance of the test-bed area. The parcel-scale findings of the indicators are used to identify local problems considering six main issues of urban development—i.e., hydrology; ecology; pollution; location; design, and; efficiency. The composite index score is used to propose betterment strategies to guide the development of local area plans in conjunction with the City's Planning Scheme. In overall, this study has shown that parcel-scale environmental data provides an overview of the local sustainability in urban areas as in the example of Gold Coast, which can also be used for setting environmental policy, objectives and targets.     

An Entangled Model for Sustainability Indicators

Nowadays the challenge for humanity is to find pathways towards sustainable development. Decision makers require a set of sustainability indicators to know if the sustainability strategies are following those pathways. There are more than one hundred sustainability indicators but they differ on their relative importance according to the size of the locality and change on time. The resources needed to follow these sustainability indicators are scarce and in some instances finite, especially in smaller regions. Therefore strategies to select set of these indicators are useful for decision makers responsible for monitoring sustainability. In this paper we propose a model for the identification and selection of a set of sustainability indicators that adequately represents human systems. In developing this model, we applied evolutionary dynamics in a space where sustainability indicators are fundamental entities interconnected by an interaction matrix. we used a fixed interaction that simulates the current context for the city of Cuernavaca, México as an example. We were able to identify and define relevant sets indicators for the system by using the Pareto principle. In this case we identified a set of sixteen sustainability indicators with more than 80% of the total strength. This set presents resilience to perturbations. For the Tangled Nature framework we provided a manner of treating different contexts (i.e., cities, counties, states, regions, countries, continents or the whole planet), dealing with small dimensions. This model provides decision makers with a valuable tool to select sustainability indicators set for towns, cities, regions, countries, continents or the entire planet according to a coevolutionary framework. The social legitimacy can arise from the fact that each individual indicator must be selected from those that are most important for the subject community.     

How to monitor environmental pressures of a circular economy: An assessment of indicators

Understanding how a circular economy (CE) can reduce environmental pressures from economic activities is crucial for policy and practice. Science provides a range of indicators to monitor and assess CE activities. However, common CE activities, such as recycling and eco‐design, are contested in terms of their contribution to environmental sustainability. This article assesses whether and to what extent current approaches to assess CE activities sufficiently capture environmental pressures to monitor progress toward environmental sustainability. Based on a material flow perspective, we show that most indicators do not capture environmental pressures related to the CE activities they address. Many focus on a single CE activity or process, which does not necessarily contribute to increased environmental sustainability overall. Based on these results, we suggest complementing CE management indicators with indicators capturing basic environmental pressures related to the respective CE activity. Given the conceptual linkage between CE activities, resource extraction, and waste flows, we suggest that a resource‐based footprint approach accounting for major environmental inputs and outputs is necessary—while not sufficient—to assess the environmental sustainability of CE activities. As footprint approaches can be used across scales, they could aid the challenging process of developing indicators for monitoring progress toward an environmentally sustainable CE at the European, national, and company levels.     

An overview of sustainability assessment methodologies

Sustainability indicators and composite index are increasingly recognised as a useful tool for policy making and public communication in conveying information on countries and corporate performance in fields such as environment, economy, society, or technological improvement. By visualizing phenomena and highlighting trends, sustainability indicators simplify, quantify, analyse and communicate otherwise complex and complicated information.There are number of initiatives working on indicators and frameworks for sustainable development (SD). This article provides an overview various sustainability indices applied in policy practice. The paper also compiles the information related to sustainability indices formulation strategy, scaling, normalisation, weighting and aggregation methodology.     

Fluorescent indicators for imaging membrane potential of organelles

Plasma membrane potential is a key driver of the physiology of excitable cells like neurons and cardiomyocytes. Voltage-sensitive fluorescent indicators offer a powerful complement to traditional electrode-based approaches to measuring and monitoring membrane potential. Intracellular organelles can also generate membrane potential, yet the electrode- and fluorescent indicator-based approaches used for plasma membrane potential imaging are difficult to implement on intact organelles in their native environment. Here, we survey recent advances in developing and deploying voltage-sensitive fluorescent indicators to interrogate organelle membrane potential in intact cells.     

Getting the measure of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea: towards improved assessment principles and methods

The eutrophication status of the entire Baltic Sea is classified using a multi-metric indicator-based assessment tool. A total of 189 areas are assessed using indicators where information on reference conditions (RefCon), and acceptable deviation (AcDev) from reference condition could be combined with national monitoring data from the period 2001?C2006. Most areas (176) are classified as ??affected by eutrophication?? and only two open water areas and 11 coastal areas are classified as ??unaffected by eutrophication??. The classification is made by application of the recently developed HELCOM Eutrophication Assessment Tool (HEAT), which is described in this paper. The use of harmonized assessment principles and the HEAT tool allows for direct comparisons between different parts of the Baltic Sea despite variations in monitoring activities. The impaired status of 176 areas is directly related to nutrient enrichment and elevated loads from upstream catchments. Baltic Sea States have implemented nutrient management strategies since years which have reduced nutrient inputs. However, eutrophication is still a major problem for large parts of the Baltic Sea. The 2007 Baltic Sea Action Plan is projected to further reduce nutrient inputs aiming for a Baltic Sea unaffected by eutrophication by 2021.     

Evaluation of the sustainability of contrasted pig farming systems: integrated evaluation

The aim of this paper is to present an approach for an integrated evaluation of the sustainability of pig farming systems, taking into account the three classical pillars: economy, environment and society. Eight sustainability themes were considered: Animal Welfare (AW), Animal Health (AH), Breeding Programmes (BP), Environment (EN), Meat Safety (MS), Market Conformity (MC), Economy (EC) and Working Conditions (WC). A total of 37 primary indicators were identified and used for the evaluation of 15 much contrasted pig farming systems in five EU countries. The results show that the eight themes were not redundant and all contributed to the observed variation between systems. The tool was very robust for highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the systems along the eight themes that were considered. The number of primary indicators could be reduced from 37 to 18 with limited impact on the strengths/weaknesses profile of the individual systems. Integrating the eight theme evaluations into a single sustainability score is based on hypotheses or presumptions on the relative weights that should be given to the eight themes, which are very dependent on the context and on the purpose of the users of the tool. Therefore, the present paper does not have the ambition to provide a ready-for-use tool, rather to suggest an approach for the integrated evaluation of the sustainability of pig farming systems.     

The Dashboard of Sustainability to measure the local urban sustainable development: The case study of Padua Municipality

The adoption of suitable indicators is fundamental to implement sustainable development at the local level. It helps in the analysis and evaluation; supports the decisional process and helps the communication between the citizens and the society, in general.Furthermore, the aggregated indexes – by representing the observed context in a simple way – may help the community in the definition of effective improvement goals and also serve as important tools to monitor the fulfillment of the planned objectives.The Dashboard of Sustainability (DS) is a mathematical and graphical tool designed to integrate the complex influences of sustainability and support the decision-making process by creating concise evaluations.The city of Padua, Italy, agreed to use the DS in its Local Agenda 21 project, financed by the Italian Ministry of Environment. The available data were sufficient to design 61 useful indicators of environmental protection, economic development, and social promotion.The results of the analysis were discussed in Padua's community forum on the Local Agenda 21 process. The graphical and numerical results helped Padua reach a consensus on the plan for future sustainability, one that was understood and accepted by all the stakeholders.In order to adapt this tool to a local context, two changes in the methodologies were necessary: to measure urban sustainability, for which “ad hoc” set indicators were used; and to allow a comparative evaluation, for which the performances of Padua were evaluated over time. These changes were possible, thanks to the flexibility of such tool.     

Sustainability indicators for municipalities of megacities: Integrating health,safety and environmental performance

The sustainability assessment of public sector organizations including municipalities, with a focus on the integration of health, safety, and environmental (HSE) issues in the context of sustainability performance indicators, has almost remained underexplored. Moreover, since a large number of the activities of megacities’ municipalities have directly to do with HSE issues, there seems to be a substantial gap in the study of megacities and corresponding local public administrations. The present study is aimed at developing a performance evaluation tool, supported by indicators, to monitor the HSE aspects of sustainable development in the municipalities of megacities. To put the proposed tool into practice, a set of performance evaluation indicators is proposed to be adopted in Iranian municipalities, integrated in the megacity of Tehran. The selection process was conducted by employing Delphi technique. In doing so, a 2-round questionnaire was responded by qualified experts to select the most robust indicators of HSE performance and evaluate the priority of each indicator. A total of 80 indicators were generated and grouped into 13 categories, 29 sub-categories, and 7 themes- (Health (H), Safety (S), Environment (E), Health-Safety (HS), Health-Environment (HE), Safety-Environment (SE), and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)). Findings indicate that amongst the overall average score of the 13 categories, “Fire and emergency response” is the most important category, closely followed by “Waste”, “Transportation”, and “Natural systems” categories. Moreover, among the 7 proposed themes, the integrated “HSE theme”, nearly followed by “safety theme”, plays the most significant role in enhancing the HSE performance of sustainability in Tehran municipalities. It is concluded that in the HSE context of the megacities municipalities under scrutiny, social aspects of sustainability gain more attention in comparison with the environmental ones. Furthermore, in municipalities of megacities, the indicators related to health and safety could be considered as ‘key indicators’ and should be thus classified into independent categories so that their roles can be highlighted in the management and assessment of municipal sustainable development.     

Hoe denken ouderen over automatische contactloze monitoring? Een systematische literatuurstudie

Introduction

Technologies for contactless monitoring are increasingly used in order to contribute to qualitative and cost-effective care for older persons. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to explore the attitudes and perceptions of older persons towards the use of systems for contactless monitoring.

Methodology

Relevant studies were identified through an extensive search strategy in Medline, Embase and Cinahl for studies published between January 1990 and August 19 2012; using a reference list offered by a group of experts in this field of research and through the exploration of the reference lists of all relevant studies.

Results

Nine studies with a qualitative study design and one study with a combined study design were included in this literature review. Various aspects of the attitudes, perceptions and needs of older persons as potential or actual end-users of contactless monitoring are discussed in five themes. This refers to the perceptions of older persons on the potential usefulness of contactless monitoring, the communication of information obtained through monitoring, several concerns when contactless monitoring is used and the participation and involvement of the person who is monitored. All these facets can influence the willingness of older people to accept these monitoring systems.

Conclusions

This review can offer technology developers and care providers useful information to promote acceptance and successful integration of systems for contactless monitoring into daily practice by ensuring that they meet the needs, concerns and wishes of older persons as their end-users. Further exploration of the attitudes and perceptions of older people towards contactless monitoring through qualitative and quantitative research with a good methodological quality is required.     

Evaluation of water footprint and economic water productivities of dairy products of South Africa

Assessment of water footprint sustainability indicators and economic water productivities is regarded as a cornerstone of the world’s sustainability goal and the reduction of the fresh water scarcity risk. These assessments are gaining much prominence because about four billion people face severe water scarcity, globally. Attaining sustainable and economically efficient water use goals requires a thorough assessment of all the existing sectors that use water. This paper examined the water footprint and economic water productivities of dairy products in South Africa for the periods 1996–2005 and 2006–2013 using the water footprint network assessment methodology. We found the total water footprints of all the selected dairy products in South Africa to be higher than the global averages are. During the period of 1996–2005, South African dairy producers utilized more green water in their dairy production. The production of butter and cheese products, whether grated or not grated, powdered or not powdered, blue-veined and cheese of all kinds had the highest total water footprints among all the dairy products in South Africa. Dairy production under a sole grazing system has high water footprints and low economic water productivities, relative to mixed production systems, for the period 2006–2013. With blue water becoming scarcer in South Africa, it is time for dairy livestock producers to shift their production to a system that is highly productive and has low water footprints. The water footprints of most of the dairy products for period 2006–2013 have reduced by varying amounts, relative to 1996–2005, which shows that water users along the dairy industry chains are managing water cautiously. Our findings have revealed dairy products that have high economic water productivities, and suggest that profit maximising and environmentally sustainable dairy producers and water users should integrate both blue water sustainability and economic water productivity indicators in their production decisions.     

The use of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) as bioindicators of sustainable forest management: A review

International and Canadian national and provincial level policy have proposed the use of criteria and indicators to examine the sustainability of renewable resource management. Species suitable as ecological indicators are those whose biology are sensitive to disturbance and therefore demonstrate a negative effect of management on the processes or functioning of the ecosystem. Ground dwelling invertebrates such as carabid beetles and spiders have strong potential as ecological indicators as they are readily surveyed in sufficient numbers for meaningful conclusions to be drawn, have a stable taxonomy and, at least in the case of ground beetles, are readily identified. They are good local scale indicators of ecosystem disturbance in forested landscapes at both the short and long time scales, responding to both clearcut logging and fire differently. Ground beetles and spiders in boreal Canada may not be good indicators of disturbance at landscape scales, as little response to the creation of forest edges and habitat fragmentation has so far been observed. We propose that these bioindicators be used as part of local-level validation monitoring to test hypotheses about disturbance impacts. In this way, bioindicators are used in a research setting to evaluate silvicultural practices, providing a rating of their sustainability for a given broad forest type grouping.