Sustainability is by no means a new concept in coastal zone management, and has received a great deal of attention in the past decade: hundreds of initiatives on sustainability in coast, often within the framework of an integrated approach (ICZM), have been launched and implemented.
However, as is often the case with projects, post-project evaluation is neglected. With sustainability initiatives, this is not solely due to budget-related or governing-related issues. We also lack in sound frameworks, tools and procedures to “measure sustainability”. Even more so, sustainability covers a wide range of subjects, which adds a problem of definition: which sustainability goal(s) do we aspire: social, economic or ecologic?
If we want to learn from past experiences and improve on ICZM, a sound way of measuring success in terms of sustainability is needed. Can we adapt or create indicators, indices, tools, procedures and framework to monitor and evaluate sustainability? What are their pro’s and con’s? And what are the results: do the measurements match the predictions and expectations?
During Littoral 2012, we want to address the topic of measuring sustainability, and we want to discuss how measuring sustainability can be integrated into the governance of coastal regions.
Participants are invited to present papers that cover any of the following subjects related to measuring sustainability:
- Tools, frameworks and procedures to measure sustainability and the success of ICZM;
- Examples of the planning, implementation and/or outcomes of sustainability measurements;
- Ideas on how to deal with success and failure in sustainability projects;
- Suggestions or examples on how to incorporate post-project evaluation in governance of ICZM;
