Abstract
The concepts of sustainable development, quality of life, wellbeing, green growth, etc., and their assessment by various kinds of indicators (within the “Beyond GDP”, or later known as the “GDP and Beyond” movement) have become important features of the professional life of many researchers, administrators and even policy makers. The underlying concepts, as well as the indicators are very broad, are often closely linked or overlapping and are in a continuous process of development. Information about them is primarily available in a scientific form—hypotheses, models, scenarios and figures—seldom comprehensible for a broad spectrum of final users. Some recent surveys show that the proliferation of indicators and the complexity (and complicatedness) of the underlying concepts impede the willingness of policy makers to use them. One of the most viable and effective ways to overcome this barrier is to provide users with accurately targeted information about particular indicators. The article introduces “indicator policy factsheets” complementing the already developed and routinely used “indicator methodology sheets”; indicator policy factsheets contain specific and easy-to-obtain information supporting instrumental, conceptual and symbolic use of indicators.
Highlights
Since the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 [1], governments and many international, as well as national organizations have been elaborating upon sustainable development indicators (SDIs) with the aim of providing a basis for reliable information for a varied audience—the lay public, experts and decision makers at all levels
A great deal of progress has been achieved: most countries monitor and report progress towards sustainable development; the assessment is based on agreed frameworks and sets of SDIs; the indicators meet many quality criteria to provide credible information; new and formerly neglected aspects are included in the assessments; a long-term initiative calling for other than economically-oriented indicators (“Beyond gross domestic product (GDP)” indicators) has emerged; researchers have come up with new methods and indicators for sustainability assessment; and some politicians have even made attempts to derive targets and base policies on this evidence [2,3,4,5]
The indicator policy factsheets that we propose may be modest, but are effective tools for increasing the indicators’ policy relevance
Summary
Since the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 [1], governments and many international, as well as national organizations have been elaborating upon sustainable development indicators (SDIs) with the aim of providing a basis for reliable information for a varied audience—the lay public, experts and decision makers at all levels (from individuals to those making international and global assessments). Soon after the UN Conference in Rio in 1992, the Commission on Sustainable Development obtained a mandate to adopt an indicators work program. It involved, inter alia, consensus-building on a core list of SDIs and development of the related methodological guidelines. Inter alia, consensus-building on a core list of SDIs and development of the related methodological guidelines These methodology sheets have become widely used since the publication of the so-called “Blue Book” in 1996 [6]. Other agencies dealing with environmental and sustainability indicators
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