Sustainable development assessment from a capitals perspective: Analytical structure and indicator selection criteria.

Sustainable development assessment has been conducted considering its various dimensions, such as environmental, social, cultural and economic. In this paper, the representation of such dimensions is undertaken from the perspective of the natural, social and built capitals. These dimensions are usually represented by indicators, indexes and systems of indicators, but their abundance in the technical and scientific literatures without adequate analytical structures can impair assessment quality and speed. This study aimed to propose a structure for sustainable development assessment whereby key aspects and indicators can be identified, prioritised and meaningfully used from the perspective of sustainable development capitals. Content analysis of selected international papers and technical reports was undertaken to identify relevant analysis elements and their hierarchical order. This has led to a four-tier framework composed of three capitals, seven categories, 19 subcategories and 52 attributes, each of which can be measured with the aid of one or more locally relevant indicator(s) in the context of sustainable development assessment. Selection criteria for such indicators were compiled from the literature and are presented in terms of their political, management, data quality and economic relevance. This study may contribute to the development and refinement of structured sustainable development indicator systems with less analytical ambiguity, overlapping and gaps, and hence improve the representativeness of future assessment efforts.

Water sustainability assessment from the perspective of sustainable development capitals: Conceptual model and index based on literature review.

Decision-making associated with the promotion of water sustainability is subjected to uncertainties arising, on the one hand, from the current capacity of understanding socio-environmental systems and their temporality, complexity and multidimensionality; and, on the other hand, from the need to represent key aspects of these systems through data and information. Such a representation is often supported by indicators, indices and systems of indicators for relevant aspects of the problem and for a scenario under analysis. In this context, the main aim of this study was to develop a novel system of indicators for water sustainability assessment in river basins. Literature review and content analysis were used to define an analytical structure for the problem from the perspective of the natural, social and built capitals of related sustainable development assessment. Each capital has been hierarchically subdivided into categories, subcategories and attributes, leading to 54 aspects for water sustainability assessment. A list of indicators was compiled from the scientific and technical literature, linked to attributes, and associated with valuation ranges. This led to the proposition of the River Basin Water Sustainability Index (RBWSI) and sub-indices associated with categories and subcategories of the model. The timeframe and territorial scale relevant for assessment were defined as five-to-ten year periods and areas under the jurisdiction of river basin management committees, respectively. The new model and index thus proposed may be useful in water sustainability diagnostic and prognostic studies, such as required to assess the effectiveness of river basin management actions aimed at promoting sustainable development.