As the practice of developing and using sustainability indicators and assessments continues to expand, practitioner networks are increasingly important for facilitating learning, for bringing increased influence to bear on policy-makers, and for harmonizing potentially conflicting approaches.
Work on sustainable development-focused measurement and assessment is carried out by an increasing number of practitioners around the world. As the practice spreads to more and more organizations, coordination and, where possible, harmonization of efforts, learning from others and strengthening professional ties become increasingly important.
IISD supports networking efforts of the practitioner community by making information available on who is doing what in the indicator field, hosting a discussion forum for leading indicator experts and by helping to grow relevant professional organizations.
Since the mid-1990s IISD has been maintaining the Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives, a global directory of organizations and experts dealing with sustainable development indicator and measurement matters. The Compendium is a searchable database on the Internet where practitioners can upload and maintain information on their indicator-related work about which they want other members of the community to know.
IISD hosts or leads the development of networks and fora intended to better connect practitioners and decision-makers working in measurement and assessment.
Canadian Sustainability Indicators Network (CSIN)
IISD is the Secretariat for CSIN, a Canada-wide indicator practitioner network that fosters sustainability indicator development and effective use in decision-making across Canada.
International Forum on Assessing Sustainability in Agriculture (INFASA)
Initiated in partnership with the Swiss College of Agriculture (RISE Group), this multi-year forum is intended to address the global use of indicator and assessment systems for sustainable agriculture. The first Symposium was held in March 2006 in Bern, Switzerland.
Compendium: A Global Directory to Indicator Initatives
The Compendium of Sustainable Development Indicator Initiatives is a worldwide directory of who is doing what in the field of sustainability indicators. Indicator practitioners are invited to submit information on their own work and take ownership of their entries in the database.