Proposed Indicator System Research Articles

Conceptual Framework for the Development of an Indicator System for the Assessment of Regional Land Subsidence Disaster Vulnerability

This paper aims to develop a set of valid and reliable indicators to evaluate the regional land subsidence disaster vulnerability. The proposed indicator system can provide effective theoretical support for further land subsidence risk evaluation and risk management. This study transfers the qualitative analysis of land subsidence vulnerability to quantitative evaluation by developing a universal land subsidence vulnerability indicator system and outlining a corresponding vulnerability analysis framework. The land subsidence vulnerability analysis in Xixi-Chengnan area, Jiangsu Province, China used as the case study to prove the applicability and the simplified use of the proposed system. Based on the flexibility of the proposed universal indicator system, indicators can be added into and deleted from the system, according to the actual situation in a certain study area.

Modelling the Basic Research Competitiveness Index (BR-CI) with an application to the biomass energy field

How to effectively make an international comparison of the basic research capacity in a specific field is an urgent problem for a country to monitor the science and technology activities. In this paper, we develop a composite index, that is, Basic Research Competitiveness Index (BR-CI), for evaluating the countries' basic research performance versus the world average level over time. For this purpose, the three sub-indexes, namely, Activity Index (AcI), Attractive Index (AtI) and Efficiency Index (EI), are proposed, which are respectively used to assess the countries' research efforts, impacts, efficiency versus the world average level in a particular science field over time. The proposed indicator system can present the cross-time and cross-country comparison of research performance, which can quantify the basic research competiveness relative to the world average level, and describe the competitive landscape among countries in the world. As the first application, this paper employs the four indicators, AcI, AtI, EI and BR-CI, to measure and compare the five leading countries' research performances in the biomass energy field. In short, the modelling and empirical study in this paper not only offers some new references for fully exploring the international competition in the basic research of biomass energy field, but also provides some new perspectives and ideas for examining the international competitiveness in the basic research field of science and technology.

Emergy evaluation of an industrial park in Sichuan Province, China: A modified emergy approach and its application

China's industrial parks have made great contributions to its economic growth with their rapid development. However, the resources and environment related issues have been challenging their sustainability to different degree. There still exist the following challenges in evaluating the sustainability of industrial systems due to the existing researches ignoring one or more related issues, including (1) ignorance of ecosystem's contributions to industrial activities, (2) neglect of quality differences between different resources, energies and labors, (3) involving subjectivity of human, (4) inadequate consideration of emissions' impact, and (5) lacking consideration on recycling and reuse benefit derived from industrial symbiosis. Therefore, they are isolated to some degree and lack completeness and systematization. This study aimed to deal with the five issues by adopting classic EA (emergy analysis) method (Overcoming issues 1–3.), quantifying emissions' impact in terms of emergy with some modified parameters (Addressing issue 4.) and proposing indicators to evaluating recycling and reuse benefit (Focusing on issue 5.). Then one proposed emergy method and the related indicator system for assessing the sustainability of industrial parks were set up. Next, an industrial park in Sichuan, China, as a case, was research using the proposed method and indicator system. The study results show that, according to the classic emergy based indicators, this industrial park has relatively high economic competition ability (EYR = 1.14), relatively low environmental press (ELR = 29.31), and relatively strong sustainability (ESI = 0.0388) compared to other industrial parks in China. However, its low economic efficiency and low wastes recycling/reuse degree still seriously challenge its sustainability with the local mineral resources exhaustion in the future. In terms of modified emergy indicators, emissions' impact further raises its environmental load by 3.42% and reduces its sustainability level by 2.70%. Finally, some corresponding suggestions are put forward.

Sustainability evaluation of end-of-life vehicle recycling based on emergy analysis: a case study of an end-of-life vehicle recycling enterprise in China

As issues concerning “circular economy” and “sustainable development” have been advocated globally, the recycling, reuse, recovery or disposal of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) have gained more and more attention. Toxic substances and wasted resources within ELVs make evaluating the sustainability of ELV recycling enterprises to be especially important for sound ELV management. In this study, an improved emergy analysis with traditional and revised emergy indices was employed for evaluation of the efficiency and sustainability of ELV recycling enterprises. The constructed emergy indicator system not only reflected the ELV recycling system's resource, environmental, economic and technological efficiency, but also made a multi-scale and multi-dimensional evaluation of the system according to its industrial characteristics. An ELV recycling enterprise in Jiangxi Province, China, as a case, was studied employing the proposed method and indicator system. The results showed that the enterprise involved in the study had strong competitive ability with relatively high economic benefit, and had a moderate environmental impact compared with other industrial systems. The emergy sustainability index indicated that the recycling enterprise was both economically and environmentally sustainable in the long term. However, the emergy technical efficiency indices indicated that the technical level and operational efficiency of the ELV recycling enterprise were relatively low and more investment should be put into the improvement of the recycling technologies. The results of the study can provide useful information for the decision makers to manage ELV recycling enterprises considering not only economic benefits but also the environmental benefits in the long term.

A holistic low carbon city indicator framework for sustainable development

Many cities are pursuing the low-carbon practices to reduce CO2 and other environmental emissions. However, it is still unclear which aspects a low-carbon city (LCC) covers and how to quantify and certify its low carbon level. In this paper, an indicator framework for the evaluation of LCC was established from the perspectives of Economic, Energy pattern, Social and Living, Carbon and Environment, Urban mobility, Solid waste, and Water. A comprehensive evaluation method was employed for LCC ranking by using the entropy weighting factor method. The benchmark values for LCC certification were also identified. The framework was applied to 10 global cities to rank their low-carbon levels. The comparison of cities at different levels of economic, social, and environmental development enhances the holistic of the study. The results showed that Stockholm, Vancouver, and Sydney ranked higher than the benchmark value, indicating these cities achieved a high level of low-carbon development. São Paulo, London, and Mexico City are still in the slow transition towards LCC. Beijing and New York each has much lower LCC level than the benchmark value due to the poor environmental performance and infrastructure supports caused by intensive human activities. The proposed indicator system serves as a guideline for the standardization of LCC and further identifies the key aspects of low-carbon management for different cities.

Methodology of disaster risk assessment for debris flows in a river basin

“Disaster risk assessment” is important in the planning of risk management strategies that reduce societal losses. However, governmental agencies in Taiwan generally assess risks that emerge from debris flows without adequately considering risk management and taking a systems approach. This work proposes an approach to thoroughly consider the interactive influence mechanism of debris flow disaster risk. Additionally, a systematic method for assessing disaster risks is developed. This proposed method can be used in the current risk assessment and as a basis for management strategy planning. Based on systems thinking, the components and attributes of a conceptual system of disaster risk management associated with debris flows in a river basin are identified. Subsequently, a conceptual mitigation–hazard–exposure–resistance framework and an indicator system for assessing the debris flow disaster risks in a river basin are identified. The disaster risks for each exposed community in each drainage zone can be systematically calculated based on the current status or plans of prevention and evacuation measures using the proposed indicator system. A case study of implementing the proposed methodology that involves the Chishan River Basin is presented, in which disaster risk according to the current status of prevention and evacuation measures is assessed. Drainage zones and communities with a significant debris flow disaster risk are located; this risk is associated with a lack of adequate prevention and evacuation measures that have been planned of government agencies. Analytical results indicate that the proposed methodology can systematically and effectively assess the disaster risks of a river basin. The proposed methodology provides a valuable reference for governmental agencies that must manage disaster risk associated with debris flows.

Indicator System Construction for Recycling Society

For the justice between generations, the concept of sustainable development has become the tendency of national development in 21 century. The guideline and indicator system for sustainable development were established already in Taiwan. The issues of eco-city, health-city or sustainable city have discussed in several cities these years. However, the key point of sustainable development is to reduce consumption of resources. A recycling-based society is the ultimate aim. In this research, issue-based indicator framework was adopted to construct an indicator system focused on the assessment of recycling representation in a city. With the considerations of resource input and recycling, the performance of resources utilization can be realized. Top five cities in Taiwan were selected as the case study. Other assessment results from existed indicator systems were compared with the proposed indicator system for distinguished the difference between various systems.

Epiphytic lichens as indicators of grazing pressure in the Mongolian forest-steppe

The ecological impact of the traditional land use by pastoral nomads on forest ecosystems is little studied. We analyzed the influence of livestock density on epiphytic lichen diversity in larch forests of the Mongolian forest-steppe, which we selected as a case example because pastoral nomadism is here most widespread within Central Asia. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that the epiphytic lichen vegetation was strongly influenced by the livestock density within a radius of 1km around the sampled forests. Goats together with horses were most significant at shaping lichen vegetation in the forest edges as were horses alone in the forest interiors. This result matches with the results of interviews with 169 herder families and own field observations, which substantiate that goats preferably graze at the edges, whereas horses often browse the interiors. The livestock impact is thought to be primarily exerted through fertilization by the animals and mechanical abrasion. Based on an indicator species analyses, we propose to use epiphytic lichens as indicators of the grazing impact at different livestock densities in the Mongolian forest-steppe. The proposed indication system can be used as a tool for the rapid assessment of the livestock grazing impact. It has the advantage that it is thought to average the livestock impact of several years, which is important with regard to the nomadic style of livestock husbandry. The use of lichens as indicator species can at least partly substitute the time-consuming interviewing of the herder families to assess livestock densities and their impact on forest biodiversity. The proposed indicator system could thus be used as a planning tool for purposes of nature conservation.

A multi-criteria assessment of relative farming efficiency in the European Union Member States

The assessment of economic sector efficiency is of high importance when making strategic decisions at any management level. This study, hence, is aimed at proposing a new framework for multi-criteria assessment and comparison of farming efficiency. In order to achieve this aim, statistical analysis, the multi-criteria decision-making method MULTIMOORA, and data envelopment analysis were employed. Farming efficiency was evaluated across the EU Member States on the basis of data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network. The proposed indicator system covers the three ratios, which virtually describe the other six input or output indicators. The EU Member States were ranked according to the indicator system by the MULTIMOORA method. The application of DEA enabled to identify the main factors of inefficiency. Attention was focused on the three Baltic States and Poland. The analysis suggests that farming efficiency in these states is below the EU average. More specifically, land productivity should be increased in the Baltic States. Moreover, the increased crop output would enable to achieve the efficiency frontier. The future challenges for the agricultural development of the Baltic States are discussed in the paper. Keywords: farming efficiency, multi-criteria decision making, data envelopment analysis, strategic management

Developing an Indicator System for Monitoring, Analyzing, and Assessing Airport Sustainability

This paper deals with developing an indicator system for monitoring, analyzing, and assessing sustainability of airports. The sustainability implies simultaneous increasing of the overall socialeconomic benefits and increasing at a slower rate, stagnating, and/or diminishing of the negative impacts of these airports during the specified medium- to long-term period of time. The indicator system consists of the indicators and their measures reflecting the airport operational, economic, social, and environmental dimension of performances. These include effects-benefits and impacts-externalities of the airport operations. The effects-benefits include mainly the airport contribution to local employment, regional (local) economy, and consequently GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The impacts-externalities embrace local noise, air pollution, congestion and delays, land use (take), and waste. The particular indicators and their measures are specified respecting interests and attitudes of particular actors involved such as users and providers of air transport services, private and public investors, governmental organizations, local community members, lobbies and pressure groups, and general public. An application of the proposed indicator system has shown that it could be considered as an initial step in developing a “tool” for assessing the current and prospective level of the airport sustainable development.

Field testing the AWIC index for detecting acidification in British streams

Using data from 132 acid-sensitive streams in Wales and Scotland from two available data sets, we tested a recently proposed indicator system that uses aquatic invertebrates to detect acidification in British rivers, the Acid Water Indicator Community (AWIC). Although many sites held less than a quarter of AWIC scoring taxa, index values at sites in both data sets correlated significantly with acid-base variables including pH, calcium concentration, alkalinity and dissolved aluminium. Relationships with acid-base status during acid episodes were particularly strong in the more comprehensive test set. Strong correlations between the AWIC index and pH in a subset of sites from Scotland indicated potential for some extrapolation beyond the initial calibration regions of England and Wales. Despite considerable pH variability within AWIC classes, measured base-flow pH was within 0.5 pH units of values expected from invertebrates at over 55-70 % of test sites, and within 1 pH unit at 87-100 %. This compares favourably with direct pH measurement, where samples at fortnightly-monthly intervals are typically required to confidently estimate mean pH within 0.7-1.2 pH units. These data, drawn from a realistic application, illustrate the potential accuracy and integrating value of invertebrate bioassessment in acid-sensitive waters. Further developments should involve more specific identification and targeted calibration to i) improve discrimination between sensitive streams of contrasting acidity; ii) further improve the accuracy of pH determination based on invertebrates; iii) avoid the apparent over-estimation of pH in the lower AWIC classes; iv) clearly differentiate between acid-sensitive and acidified streams.

A framework of indicator system for measuring Taipei's urban sustainability

Ever since the Earth Summit was launched at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992, the concept of sustainability has exerted significant influence on policy at local level. Sustainable urban development has also become an important local strategy for global sustainability. Due to their integrative and forward-looking characteristics, sustainability indicators have been proposed to measure and evaluate urban development. After discussing the ecological economic dimension of urban sustainability, this paper presents a procedure and a conceptual framework of the indicator system for measuring Taipei's urban sustainability. On the basis of natural processes and evolving urban development, the approach to Taipei's sustainable development is defined as reinforcing Taipei's metropolitan life-support system through its economic vitality for enhancing Taipei's urban productivity and quality and making Taipei a national capital with blue–green characteristics. Based on the conceptual framework of urban ecological economic system, 80 indicators are selected through participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which can be used as policy-making indicators for measuring Taipei's urban sustainability. The policy-making indicators are further aggregated into 10 general public indicators and evaluated using signal lights (green, yellow and red). It is concluded that the proposed indicator system can provide evidence of progress on urban sustainability. Justification of public expenditure on urban development can therefore be evaluated.