Navigation directions: Indicators of sustainable development

Abstract

When we wander over icy terrain, deserts, or uninhabited virgin steppes, our main concern is to avoid losing our way or our sense of present location. In this case maps are very handy, or in their absence one can navigate by the Sun or the stars. Keeping track of every noticeable landmark—a stick, a hill, a dry riverbed, isolated trees—is another tried and tested method. No such helpful tracking clues are available as we meander through the new and unfamiliar realm of sustainable development where the fata morgana of wishful thinking constantly threatens to lead us astray. This is why a special section of Agenda 21—the document adopted at the 1992 Rio Summit—was devoted to the question of creating special sustainable development indicators for the systemic evaluation of the relationship between nature, the economy, and population. At the same time, these indicators were meant to act as a basis for working out long-term policies in the framework of corresponding programs. In Chapter 40 of this document we read: “Indicators of sustainable development need to be developed to provide solid bases for decision-making at all levels and to contribute to a self-regulating sustainability of integrated environment and development systems” (Agenda 21, 2004).