English Français

Key Message

IISD contributes to the sustainability transition by helping societies define, chart, assess and ultimately navigate the way forward.

Team


Henry David Venema· Henry David Venema
Vice-President, Science and Innovation
Dimple Roy· Dimple Roy
Manager, Natural and Social Capital
Mark Anielski· Mark Anielski
Associate
Stephan Barg· Stephan Barg
Associate
Livia Bizikova· Livia Bizikova
Project Manager
Robert B. Brennan· Robert B. Brennan
Senior Fellow and Associate
David B. Brooks· David B. Brooks
Associate
Richard Grosshans· Richard Grosshans
Associate
Peter Hardi· Peter Hardi
Associate
Richard Lawford· Richard Lawford
Associate
Matthew McCandless· Matthew McCandless
Bioeconomy Team Leader
Bryan Oborne· Bryan Oborne
Associate
Jim Perry· Jim Perry
Associate
László Pintér· László Pintér
Senior Fellow and Associate
Dan Rubenstein· Dan Rubenstein
Associate
Todd Scaletta· Todd Scaletta
Associate
Cory Searcy· Cory Searcy
Associate
Kyle Swystun· Kyle Swystun
Project Officer
Charles Thrift· Charles Thrift
Project Manager
Bishunarine Tulsie· Bishunarine Tulsie
Associate
Stephen Tyler· Stephen Tyler
Associate
Vivek Voora· Vivek Voora
Project Manager
Karla Zubrycki· Karla Zubrycki
Project Officer
Jean Perras· Jean Perras
Associate

Measurement and Assessment

Navigating the sustainability transition

What's New in Measurement and Assessment?

  • Measuring Progress Towards Sustainable Development Goals
    Building on an initiative led by Colombia and Guatemala, governments represented at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development provided a mandate for launching an intergovernmental process to identify sustainable development goals (SDGs). The process to develop the SDGs will run over a period of three years and conclude by 2015, the end of the implementation period for the existing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With the end of the MDG implementation period approaching, the question of how much progress has or hasn’t been achieved is bound to feature prominently in political and scientific discourse.

    Immediately following the agreement on the SDG mandate, most of the discussion focused on the approach to developing the goals themselves and how the SDG process could be integrated with the ongoing process to define the broader post-2015 development agenda. This paper argues that SDG process planning should also pay specific attention to the development of the evidence base—particularly sustainable development goal indicators (SDGIs).

    While indicators were developed and used in reporting progress towards the MDGs, the approach to developing SDGIs must be systematically strengthened. One way to achieve this would be by designing the SDGI process (and ultimately the indicator system itself) based on a coherent set of purpose-built principles. An example of such principles is the Bellagio Sustainability Assessment and Measurement Principles or BellagioSTAMP. The question is not simply what to accept as evidence and indicators, but how these are conceptualized and developed, by whom, and how evidence informs the envisioning of transition pathways, implementation mechanisms, monitoring and reporting.

Navigating the sustainability transition requires good instruments that orient us and tell us where we are, where we may be headed and what our options are. There are instruments that can help set goals and targets, others can be used to monitor and report on progress, while some are useful in exploring alternative futures. All of them are essential for effective sustainable development strategies and adaptive management, and inform political discourse about economic, social and environmental goals.

IISD has been working to develop, enhance and apply measurement and assessment tools and processes for navigating the path to sustainable development since 1995. Our aim is to make significant local, national and international contributions, and to build the institute into a world centre of expertise in this field.

Contents