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Sustainability Assessment and Indicators: Tools in a Decision-Making Strategy for Sustainable Development

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Centre for Sustainable Development, Ghent University, Poel 16, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Resource Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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Environmental Science Department, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, P.O. Box, Halifax, NS 15000, Canada
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Plant Biology and Nature Management, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
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University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2014, 6(9), 5512-5534; https://doi.org/10.3390/su6095512
Received: 10 April 2014 / Revised: 28 May 2014 / Accepted: 11 August 2014 / Published: 25 August 2014
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)
Recognizing the urgent need for sustainability, we argue that to move beyond the rhetoric and to actually realize sustainable development, it must be considered as a decision-making strategy. We demonstrate that sustainability assessment and sustainability indicators can be powerful decision-supporting tools that foster sustainable development by addressing three sustainability decision-making challenges: interpretation, information-structuring, and influence. Particularly, since the 1990s many substantial and often promising sustainability assessment and sustainability indicators efforts are made. However, better practices and a broader shared understanding are still required. We aim to contribute to that objective by adopting a theoretical perspective that frames SA and SI in the context of sustainable development as a decision-making strategy and that introduces both fields along several essential aspects in a structured and comparable manner. View Full-Text
Keywords: sustainability assessment; sustainability indicators; decision-making; impact assessment; sustainable development sustainability assessment; sustainability indicators; decision-making; impact assessment; sustainable development
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MDPI and ACS Style

Waas, T.; Hugé, J.; Block, T.; Wright, T.; Benitez-Capistros, F.; Verbruggen, A. Sustainability Assessment and Indicators: Tools in a Decision-Making Strategy for Sustainable Development. Sustainability 2014, 6, 5512-5534. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6095512

AMA Style

Waas T, Hugé J, Block T, Wright T, Benitez-Capistros F, Verbruggen A. Sustainability Assessment and Indicators: Tools in a Decision-Making Strategy for Sustainable Development. Sustainability. 2014; 6(9):5512-5534. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6095512

Chicago/Turabian Style

Waas, Tom, Jean Hugé, Thomas Block, Tarah Wright, Francisco Benitez-Capistros, and Aviel Verbruggen. 2014. "Sustainability Assessment and Indicators: Tools in a Decision-Making Strategy for Sustainable Development" Sustainability 6, no. 9: 5512-5534. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6095512

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