Modernising sustainable development? Standardisation, evidence and experts in local indicators

Abstract

Taking inspiration from the forthcoming Rio+20 Conference in Brazil, this paper reflects upon the roles of power and knowledge in developing indicators for sustainable local development. Are indicators, the evidence they privilege, and the policies that follow from them consistent with the stated goals of sustainable development? Are they merely bureaucratic tick-boxes that enable the measurement of “progress”? Or, similarly, do they represent “knowledge modernization” whereby sustainable development can be measured objectively, like GDP? We will examine three points relating to these questions: (1) the increasing standardisation and mobility of sustainable development indicators; (2) the increasing prominence and types of “evidence” that inform sustainable development policy, and (3) the role of experts in determining the parameters of sustainable development. We argue that the development and use of indicators have become a technocratic practice that serves as a buffer between the “political” and the “rational” and thus de-politicises and restricts local sustainable development agendas, despite the inherently political nature of environmental problems and values.