About the Compendium

The Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives provides information on initiatives carried out at international, national, provincial/territorial/state, regional, sectoral, ecosystem and local/community levels worldwide.

Interest in indicators covering both the socio-economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development has been increasing over the past decade. Indicator sets are compiled based on geographic regions with natural or jurisdictional boundaries, economic sectors and institutions, in many countries of the world. More than ever, there is a need to coordinate research and practice in these areas.

The Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives seeks to:

The revisions to the Compendium in 2002–03

Over a number of years, over 600 initiatives have been added to the Compendium. Recently, Environment Canada was mandated to create a National Indicators and Reporting Strategy and has sought assistance from the International Sustainability Indicators Network (ISIN) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) to collect up-to-date information on leading indicator initiatives worldwide. The primary reason for this collaboration was to help provide background information for the development of the National Strategy, but also to help support an indicators and reporting community of practice in Canada and internationally.

These revisions include:

Information base format:

The Compendium is designed to facilitate remote data insertion and extraction, and to allow for the search and retrieval of entries through eight search tool fields. Each initiative has a unique entry in the Compendium and includes information as shown in Table 1 (below).

Table 1: Compendium Form - Search the Compendium

Title of initiative

 The full title of the initiative.

Lead organization(s) for this initiative

 Include the full organization name(s) before any acronyms.

Your name

The name of the person entering the information.

Your e-mail

The e-mail of the person entering the information. This e-mail will enable access to the initiative at a later date for editing.

Your organization

The name of the organizations with which the person entering the information is affiliated.

Date initiative established

 Select a year between 1960 and 2020.

Date of latest report or proposed release

 Select a year between 1960 and 2020.

Type of initiative

A program, project or report using social, environmental and economical indicators, including those that measure the progress towards a common vision or goal.

Includes:

  • Analytical Report: A technical or scientific document that examines an issue through the use of concrete data and/or professional methodology and then recommends an action.

  • Certification Program: Indicators developed in order to meet standards of a certification program, often in the natural resources sector (i.e., forestry).

  • Indicator Initiatives: A written record of the current state and use of the indicators that a specific initiative is using. Includes graphic and/or tabular displays of the indicators.

  • Inventory: An itemized list of indicator initiatives with traits, indicators and categories specific to those initiatives.

  • Local Agenda 21: An initiative that is focused on the long-term strategic action for sustainability in municipal administration, reflective of the Local Agenda 21 Program.

  • Methodology/Guideline: A report, statement or booklet that describes a methodology for developing specific indicators or procedure for an indicator initiative.

  • Performance Report: A written record or project portraying the progress toward an initiatives goals or initial statement of intent(s). It provides an account of the work that has been done, the circumstances under which the initiative was performed and the extent to which the work done achieved the desired goals.

  • Quality of Life: An initiative that is focused on a set of issues responsible for determining quality of life for people.

  • State of Environment Initiative: Generally describes the current condition of the environmental issues of concern and may specify areas requiring further work or research and how these will be addressed.

  • Sustainable Development Initiative: An indicator report that focuses on economic, social and environmental issues for a particular geographic area and addresses or attempts to address the interconnections of the issues.

  • Other: Describe.

Intended use of initiative

The primary purpose(s) towards which the initiative is directed and that one intends to follow.

Includes: Adaptive Management, Advocacy, Education/Awareness, Indicator Development, Performance Measurement, Policy Development, Access to Information, Research and Strategy Development.

Description of intended use

Brief description of the intended use of the indicator initiative. Refers to the goal of the initiative itself, rather than broader societal intended outcomes.

Geographic scope of initiative

Geographic area covered by the report.

Includes: Global, International, Local/Community, Metropolitan Region, Multinational, National, Other, State/Provincial, Sub-national

Geographic units used

Geographic units used in the report.

Includes: Political/Administrative, Natural Areas or Both

Country or continent or international

The geographic location (national and above), in which the initiative and its indicators are intended to perform. If the indicators are intended for a sub-national location, choose the country in the field. Choose most relevant one.

Municipality, Province/State

E.g.

Regional:

Greater Vancouver, British Columbia

Municipality:

Tucson, Arizona

Name of municipality or state in which initiative applies, if applicable

Framework for initiative

A structure for organizing, grouping or classifying the indicators used by an initiative or the overarching world view on which the initiative is based. Clarification of which conceptual model or framework is used in the identification and organization of indicators.

Includes: Capital-based Approach (natural, social, economic, cultural), DPSIR-Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response, Environmental Media (air, freshwater, marine, wildlife, ecosystem, etc.), Issue-based (climate change, acid rain, air quality, etc.), PSR-Pressure-state-response, and Resource Sectors (agriculture, forestry, mining, etc.).

Issue areas

The particular areas or issues that the initiative is addressing and will attempt to perform upon.

Includes: Acid Rain, Agriculture, Air Quality, Arts and Culture, Atmosphere, Climate Change, Drinking Water, Economic Performance, Education, Employment, Energy, Fisheries, Forestry, Food Safety, Freshwater, Governance, Groundwater, Harmful Substances and Chemicals, Housing, Human Health, Land Use, Manufacturing, Mining, Natural Resources, Nature and Biodiversity, Noise, Oceans, Seas and Coasts, Population, Poverty, Public Safety, Recreation, Social, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion, Transportation, Waste, Wetlands, Other.

This list may be expanded.

Lead organization(s)

Name(s) of organization(s) leading the initiative or producing the report

Type of organization(s)

Select the category that best describes the lead agency

Partners

Group or organizations notably involved in the initiative. List the complete names of all major partners.

Mandate requirement

An official or authoritative goal or requirement that is responsible for the onset of the initiative.

Steering committee present

Describe structure of steering committee, if present. This field attempts to assess how indicator initiatives and SOE reports are governed.

Public involvement

The manner in which the public is involved in the initiative process or in evaluation of the initiative.

Includes: Consultation, Evaluation Process, Public Membership on Committee, Unknown and Other.

Funding source

The organization or sponsor responsible for complete or partial assistance in the initiative program. Name of funding organization(s) or sponsor(s).

Frequency of reports

The time period and the rate at which the reports are created and/or released. Select the category that best describes the report frequency or reporting plans for the initiative.

Public access to supporting data

Are the data for this initiative available for viewing and/or downloading by Compendium users? Will users be able to look at and/or download data that are used in initiative or report?

Web site address for initiative or report

Web address specific to initiative or report.

Notes/comments

Any additional information, unique features.

Contact person

Name of person most closely associated with initiative or report.

Title

Contact persons title or position.

Organization

Organization with which that contact person is affiliated.

Telephone

Telephone number of contact person.

Mailing address

Enter complete mailing address.

E-mail address

E-mail address for contact person.

Progress to date/future areas of work

The status of the indicator initiative, including whether the project is in early, mature and completion stages.

Presentation of the information and indicators

Type of presentation including databases, graphics, models and other visualization tools.

Publications

Publications related to the indicator initiative, including year of publication, format (online, hard copy) and publisher.