Applying sustainability assessment thinking to a community-governed development: a sea cucumber farm in Madagascar

Abstract

Sustainability assessment thinking is now well established in the impact assessment literature. Community-governed developments which aim to be sustainable have become popular in many developing countries. They attempt to protect the environment while alleviating poverty, but there is apparently no systematic guidance. We explored how established sustainability assessment criteria might be combined with principles for good community-governance for application to a community governed development using a case study of a sea cucumber farm in Madagascar. By adapting these criteria and principles to our case study, we were able to quickly and easily illuminate important sustainability issues and provide insight for improving processes and outcomes. We believe that our framework for combining these two sets of criteria and principles provides a simple but useful approach that could help future community groups enhance their quest for sustainable development.