Sustainability Assessments

Sustainability

Quantifying and Assessing Societal Changes

There is world-wide concern about assessing and measuring societal and economic sustainability when industrial development occurs.

Sustainability has been described as a process rather than a goal. Ask any group of people what sustainable means to them, and you will get as many answers as there are members of the group.

The forestry industry has several different standards for assessing forest sustainability. The indicators are a mix of objective measurements and subjective values. There is no unambiguous, consensus assessment of sustainability that is repeatable over time and allows comparisons among forest practices and policies.

Mining, hydroelectric dams, and manufacturing in developing countries have in the past been disruptive of the local economy, culture, and social cohesion. Companies and governments want to reduce or eliminate negative impacts of modernization, and sustainability criteria are developed to address those concerns. The major issue is how to measure and assess sustainability if a project is allowed to proceed. There is no single answer to this question; it varies by location, project type, and indigenous culture.

Our breakthough sustainability models are different from conventional numeric models. You provide the expertise to explain the meaning of each indicator value and we translate that into a set of IF-THEN rules for use in an approximate reasoning model. You control the process so that it meets your needs and the values of local stakeholders and residents. This approach gives you results that are technically sound and legally defensible, and allows you to compare locations, projects, and changes over time.

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Sustainability

Quantifying and Assessing Societal Changes