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1.	Beyond Eco-Efficiency
	Are you getting the 'right signals' of sustainable development? Are your 'indicators' working? SD demands a balanced picture of sustainability, whether in business, government, the local community or countryside. But it is hard to tell if SD is being achieved unless we have credible indicators for measuring our performance. Before the early eighties, traditional economic measures like 'purchasing power' or employment numbers dominated. Then, with heightened concern for the global environment in the late eighties and early nineties, eco-efficiency assumed a new importance for ensuring that economic production did not accrue at an unacceptable ecological price tag. This saw the introduction of new measures like pollution-per-unit of production. Now, the thinking is broadening to include social considerations into the measurement mix. The growing consensus among experts is that while narrower performance objectives may be measured using single yardsticks like employment, more comprehensive pictures of SD generally require a range of indices. This was the outcome of a recent meeting of international experts who gathered in Bellagio, Italy to consider the sustainable measurement conundrum. Another conclusion at Bellagio was that indicators are only as good as the processes used to choose and apply them. A project for measuring the sustainability of mountain communities in the Sierra Nevada region of northern Colombia, for example, proved successful because local people were invited to participate alongside experts in the process (see Virtual Ideas below). The lingo varies somewhat in the business world – for example, eco-efficiency has in some circles taken on a production-oriented meaning implying non-polluting, closed-loop manufacturing processes – but the trends are the same. Broader concepts like 'lean technology' – which sees efficiency not just in terms of reduced production, but reduced consumption also – are gaining acceptance, and helping to ensure that more balanced, more resource-efficient measures figure prominently in the future. [SD indicators stressing balance, variety and process]
	green productivity n.increases in economic productivity that are compatible with the environment and SD Lean technology n.efficient production processes in terms of both production and consumption. De-materialization n.smarter materials management for making do with less
	Fussler, Claude.Driving eco-innovation. New York: Pitman Publishing, 1996.
	The Barometer of Sustainability: Measuring Sustainable Development A new and visually interesting method for assessing sustainable development is being developed by Robert Prescott-Allen, a consultant and writer. The method uses a wide range of indicators to measure the well-being of people and the ecosystem. It combines the indicators into indices using the Barometer of Sustainability - a performance scale that gives readings of ecosystem well-being, human well-being and overall well-being and sustainability. Like all SD measurement methodologies it faces the challenges of determining what to include and how to set the scale and weight the variables. Regardless, it is a valuable new tool that is bound to help give a clearer picture of sustainable development. Look for the 'The Well-being of Nations', a new book by Robert Prescott-Allen later this year.
Virtual Ideas	Bellagio Principles: Measuring SD on IISDnet Measuring sustainability in Colombia: an IDRC Reports feature