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7B - Sustainable development indicators (TH7/2) A framework for the selection and evaluation of sustainability indicators for a geographic region. Butnar, Isabela, Martin, Zoraida, Castells, Francesc , ABSTRACT- Indicators have increasingly been used to as tools to measure progress toward sustainable development at different levels: national, regional, local, and company/facility. Examples of international organizations that developed and organized indicators include Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Environmental Agency, CEROI, World Bank, among others. There are numerous lists of environmental indicators, but there is a little or no guidance as to how to select o apply them over time in order to become more sustainable. In this paper, a methodology for choosing a set of sustainability indicators relevant for a geographic region is given. A review of the most used indicators by the international organizations is made and the definitions, sources and specific units of these indicators are given. The proposed methodology includes the three steps: choosing a conceptual framework that fits the best our intentions, followed by defining a set of general selection criteria against which indicators can be evaluated. The third step consists on evaluating the potential indicators using an evaluation matrix. Finally, as an application of the described methodology, a set of indicators for the region of Tarragona is chosen. Key words: regional assessment, sustainable development, indicators framework, review |
