UNESCO Chair on Sustainability, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
UNESCO Chair on Sustainability, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.
Sci Total Environ. 2017 Feb 1;578:139-147. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.217. Epub 2016 Nov 10.
The scientific community strongly recommends the adoption of indicators for the evaluation and monitoring of progress towards sustainable development. Furthermore, international organizations consider that indicators are powerful decision-making tools. Nevertheless, the quality and reliability of the indicators depends on the application of adequate and appropriate criteria to assess them. The general objective of this study was to evaluate how indicators related to water use and management perform against a set of sustainability criteria. Our research identified 170 indicators related to water use and management. These indicators were assessed by an international panel of experts that evaluated whether they fulfil the four sustainability criteria: social, economic, environmental, and institutional. We employed an evaluation matrix that classified all indicators according to the DPSIR (Driving Forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses) framework. A pilot study served to test and approve the research methodology before carrying out the full implementation. The findings of the study show that 24 indicators comply with the majority of the sustainability criteria; 59 indicators are bi-dimensional (meaning that they comply with two sustainability criteria); 86 are one-dimensional indicators (fulfilling just one of the four sustainability criteria) and one indicator do not fulfil any of the sustainability criteria.
科学界强烈建议采用指标来评估和监测可持续发展的进展。此外，国际组织认为指标是强有力的决策工具。然而，指标的质量和可靠性取决于应用适当和适当的标准来评估它们。本研究的总体目标是评估与水的使用和管理相关的指标在一套可持续性标准下的表现。我们的研究确定了 170 个与水的使用和管理相关的指标。这些指标由一个国际专家小组进行评估，以确定它们是否符合四项可持续性标准：社会、经济、环境和制度。我们使用了一个评估矩阵，根据 DPSIR（驱动力、压力、状态、影响和响应）框架对所有指标进行分类。一项试点研究用于在全面实施之前测试和批准研究方法。研究结果表明，24 个指标符合大多数可持续性标准；59 个指标是二维的（这意味着它们符合两个可持续性标准）；86 个是一维指标（仅满足四个可持续性标准中的一个），一个指标不符合任何可持续性标准。
