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Significance of environment in the assessment of sustainable development : the case for South West Victoria

Graymore, Michelle L. M., Wallis, Anne M. and Richards, Anneke J. 2008, Significance of environment in the assessment of sustainable development : the case for South West Victoria, in Easy-Eco 2008 : Governance by evaluation : institutional capacities and learning for sustainable development, EASY-ECO, [Vienna, Austria].


Title Significance of environment in the assessment of sustainable development : the case for South West Victoria
Author(s) Graymore, Michelle L. M.
Wallis, Anne M.
Richards, Anneke J.
Conference name Easy-Eco Vienna Conference (2008 : Vienna, Austria)
Conference location Vienna, Austria
Conference dates 11-14 March 2008
Title of proceedings Easy-Eco 2008 : Governance by evaluation : institutional capacities and learning for sustainable development
Publication date 2008
Publisher EASY-ECO
Place of publication [Vienna, Austria]
Summary The assessment of sustainable development is often based on the three pillars of sustainability model or triple bottom line using a set of indicators that evaluate the social, economic and environmental systems. It is thought that by measuring the performance of each system information can be gained about the sustainability of the whole system. However, this represents a disconnect between sustainability theory and the practice of sustainability evaluation as there is no attempt to evaluate if this assumption is true. During the development of a sustainability assessment framework for south west Victoria, Australia, it has become evident that this approach to sustainability assessment does not provide an accurate evaluation of system sustainability. Throughout this project, from stakeholder prioritisation of indicators to final multiple criteria analysis of sustainability, the environmental indicators were found to be the most important for the region’s sustainability. As a consequence, the assessment produced shows that in south west Victoria, sustainability is largely determined by the condition of the environment. This finding highlights the current disconnection between theory and the reality of sustainability. Thus, we discuss a framework for sustainability assessment that attempts to re-connect theory to practice.
Language eng
Field of Research 050209 Natural Resource Management
Socio Economic Objective 960702 Consumption Patterns, Population Issues and the Environment
HERDC Research category L2.1 Full written paper - non-refereed (minor conferences)
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30024970

Document type: Conference Paper
Collection: School of Life and Environmental Sciences
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Created: Wed, 10 Mar 2010, 13:58:54 EST by Michelle Graymore