In this think piece, Sustainable World Initiative argues that in order to make improvements to the International Framework for Sustainable Development (IFFSD), Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting (SER) is critically needed.

Fundamental changes are occurring in our world today, as the global scale of human activity pushes against and often exceeds nature’s capacity to support life. Climate change, peak oil reserves, fresh water shortages, waste overload, and rapid bio-diversity loss are just a few signs that humans are exceeding the planet’s natural resource limits.

True sustainability is a dynamic situation that requires ongoing resource demands to be less than, or in balance with, natural resource supplies. Unfortunately, due to increasing industrialization and rapid population growth, humanity’s demands for the planet’s goods and services have far exceeded nature’s capacity to provide them. We are now in a state of natural resource "overshoot," a condition characterized by the unstable drawdown of resources that can lead to both economic and societal breakdown. The issue of overshoot must be addressed if we want to protect life on Earth and allow future generations to continue to enjoy healthy and fulfilling lives.

Many feel that if we conduct human development activities in an incrementally more sustainable or more efficient manner – if we simply “green” our economies – human civilization will naturally evolve into a sustainable system that will avoid the deleterious affects of overshoot. Unfortunately, this premise is highly flawed. Incremental “greening” of the existing global economy will in no way guarantee that our newly transformed green civilization will be able to operate in perpetuity or within the Earth’s natural resource limitations.

Fortunately, the sciences of ecological accounting, non-renewable resource evaluation, waste assimilation, and health dynamics are advancing rapidly. We can now determine, with increasing accuracy, such things as greenhouse gas emission limits, energy supply peaks, and the extent of anthropogenic demands on nature. Better yet, we can use these metrics to put real mathematical substance to the critical global issue of living within planetary means.

The challenge posed by natural resource overshoot requires creative thought and action. For most people, especially for those not schooled in the environmental sciences, the concept of overshoot can be somewhat difficult to comprehend. Even when it is understood, it can be ominous or disturbing, rather than motivating. Accordingly, the Sustainable World Initiative’s (SWI) core mission is to boost public understanding of sustainability, clarify the challenges that lie ahead, outline the steps needed to achieve sustainability, and inspire people to act.

The Need for Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting in Environmental Governance

"Sustainable development" is a term that is gaining use and popularity throughout the world. Although this term cannot be defined precisely, sustainable development programs and projects generally improve the efficiency of economic activity and the demand humans place on nature. Sustainable development initiatives are extremely important in today’s world of limited and declining resources, but they are by no means sufficient for attaining true sustainability. In order to ensure a viable future at the global level, we must take an additional step above and beyond the propagation of sustainable development initiatives. We must also evaluate the total demands we place on nature and ensure that these demands are within nature’s capacity to provide. This biological and geo-physical balancing process, referred to by SWI as "resource macro-balancing" must be done in order to ensure true sustainability for society today. Resource balances must be evaluated regularly and managed properly if we are serious about protecting life and well-being for future generations.

In light of these considerations, what is most critically needed for the immediate improvement of the International Framework for Sustainable Development (IFFSD) is Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting (SER) - a process that assesses total human resource demands and compares these demands with the capacity of natural systems to supply them on a sustainable basis. If policymakers don’t know whether current and projected resource demands are sustainable, they cannot make informed decisions about sustainability and the policy changes needed to obtain it.

When the subject of SER is raised, the discussion often becomes bogged down in a debate about which metrics are most appropriate or accurate. While there are no perfect metrics, and more needs to be done in fine-tuning existing metrics, there are good metrics available for use by policymakers. We should not let a quest for greater accuracy deter us from using existing metrics and implementing SER. Adequate methodologies, like the Ecological Footprint, exist today to begin this important process. These and other methodologies can serve as an “early warning system,” alerting policymakers to the need for urgent action.

Each nation must embrace the broad concept of true sustainability and commit to a program of action that will result in continuous macro-balance improvement. These programs will require evaluation processes, periodic reporting, and a commitment to adopting national policies that promote self-sufficiency within the natural resource limits of each respective sovereign territory.

So what is the bottom line? Simply stated, IFFSD must be redesigned to encourage and support national and international SER initiatives and activities. The design of IFFSD must include technical evaluation support and global standardization of evaluation methodologies. IFFSD must also support and perform other needed functions such as international resource allocations, monitoring, planning, and global resource goal setting. While IFFSD should not infringe upon national sovereignty, it can, and should, play a supportive role in SER in order to maintain a viable planet now and for future generations to come.

About the Sustainable World Initiative SWI is a global initiative based in Washington D.C. that is working to create a more viable future world for all people and life on the planet. Its efforts are focused on the biological and geo-physical realities of planet earth, and on the need for human activities to be in reasonable balance with the finite resources of one planet.

Contact: Edwin Barry, Director, email: ebarry@populationinstitute.org.