Towards sustainable development indicators

Opschoor, Hans; Reijnders, L.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-3246-6_2

Cited by 84 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…To investigate these questions thoroughly, knowledge about energy use in different agricultural systems is needed. This knowledge can then be included in a multi-criteria evaluation of the sustainability of agricultural systems, including other agroecological (Barnett et al, 1994) and socio-economic (Opschoor and Reijnders, 1991) indicators of sustainability. Sustainability implies efficient use of non-renewable resources and the progressive substitution of renewable for non-renewable resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model for fossil energy use in Danish agriculture used to compare organic and conventional farming

Dalgaard¹,

Halberg²,

Porter³

2001

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

370

202

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Knowledge about fossil energy use in agricultural systems is needed, because it can improve the understanding of how to reduce the unsustainable use of limited energy resources and the following greenhouse gas emissions. This study describes and validates a model to assess fossil energy use in Danish agriculture; gives an example of how the model can be used to compare organic and conventional farming; and discusses the implications and potentials of using the model to simulate energy use in scenarios of agricultural production. The model is a development of an existing model, which was too coarse to predict measured energy use on Danish farms. The model was validated at the field operational, the crop type, and the national level, and can supplement the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change manual to quantify fossil energy use and subsequent carbon dioxide emissions from agriculture. The model can be used to model energy use as one indicator in a multi-criteria evaluation of sustainability, also including other agroecological and socio-economic indicators.As an example, energy use for eight conventional and organic crop types on loamy, sandy, and irrigated sandy soil was compared. The energy use was generally lower in the organic than in the conventional system, but yields were also lower. Consequently, conventional crop production had the highest energy production, whereas organic crop production had the highest energy efficiency. Generally, grain cereals such as wheat have a lower energy use per area than roughage crops such as beets. However, because of higher roughage crop yields per area, energy use per feed unit was higher in the roughage crops. Energy use for both conventional cattle and pig production was found to be higher than that for organic production. With respect to fossil energy use per produced livestock unit, agro-ecosystems producing pigs were in both cases less energy effective than those producing cattle.Fossil energy use for three scenarios of conversion to organic farming with increasing fodder import was compared to current conventional farming in Denmark. The scenario with the highest fodder import showed the highest energy use per livestock unit produced. In all scenarios, the energy use per unit produced was lower than in the present situation. However, the total Danish crop production was also lower.In conclusion, the model can be used to simulate scenarios, which can add new information to the discussion of future, sustainable agricultural production.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A model for fossil energy use in Danish agriculture used to compare organic and conventional farming

Dalgaard¹,

Halberg²,

Porter³

2001

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

370

202

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the purpose of this paper, and building on earlier work by Van Kamp et al (2003) and Opschoor and Reijnders (1991), urban environmental quality is defined as the ability of the physical environment to satisfy the needs of human beings, ecosystems and artefacts in cities. It is regarded here as a sub-set of quality of life, pertaining to only those needs that are, directly or indirectly, related to the physical environment.…”

Section: Urban Environmental Quality: Dimensions and Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Necessity of an Integrated, Participative and Adaptive Approach to Sustainable Urban Environmental Quality Planning

2017

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On the necessity of an integrated, participative and adaptive approach to urban environmental quality in planning sustainable cities Key words: urban environmental quality; urban quality of life; sustainable urban development; trade-offs; quality dimensions. Rien van Stigt, Peter Driessen and Tejo Spit AbstractBased on a review of recent literature, this paper addresses the question of how urban planners can steer urban environmental quality, given the fact that it is multidimensional in character, is assessed largely in subjective terms and varies across time. A novel perspective of urban environmental quality is proposed, exploring three questions that are at the core of planning and designing cities: 'quality of what?', 'quality for whom?' and 'quality at what time?' The dilemmas that urban planners face in answering these questions are illustrated using secondary material. The three questions provide a framework that offers urban planners perspectives for action in finding their way out of the dilemmas identified. Rather than further detailing the exact nature of urban quality, this novel perspective calls for an approach to urban planning that is integrated, participative and adaptive.

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“…The area or volume between the baseline as the bottom line and the carrying capacity as the top line is nominally called the "sustainability space", which is similar to the concept of "environmental space" proposed elsewhere (Opschoor and Reinders 1991;Spangenberg 2002) but with the inclusion of a baseline. In this approach, we take into consideration the physical and chemical limitations associated with the environment at a specific location.…”

Section: Sustainability Metrics Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reductive Radical Decarboxylation of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids

Williams

Savage³

et al. 2014

Organic Syntheses

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Achieving sustainability -the balance between economic and social development and environmental viability -is one of the key goals of industry, society and government. To measure sustainability, numerous indicators or "metrics" have been developed. However, they do not typically incorporate any information about a local region: they relate equally to a power station in Antarctica or in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. This paper describes a new approach to sustainability metrics that brings local conditions into the assessment of sustainability. We introduce a general mathematical and theoretical model for deriving such metrics and then demonstrate on one specific metric -soil acidification -that provides a useful and well known example. The metrics are applied to differentiate between four sites for the same power station in Australia. The methodology demonstrates a marked difference to existing sustainability metrics, in that it is able to distinguish between different receiving environments, something that cannot be achieved with previously described sets of metrics. These "location-specific sustainability metrics" offer a model to improve the information upon which decisions about future development strategies are made, and to evaluate sustainability in a way that better represents the real world.

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Towards sustainable development indicators

Cited by 84 publications

References 6 publications

A model for fossil energy use in Danish agriculture used to compare organic and conventional farming

A model for fossil energy use in Danish agriculture used to compare organic and conventional farming

On the Necessity of an Integrated, Participative and Adaptive Approach to Sustainable Urban Environmental Quality Planning

Reductive Radical Decarboxylation of Aliphatic Carboxylic Acids

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