Special Issue "Sustainability Assessment and Indicators: Working Towards the Sustainable Development Agenda"
Guest Editors:
Prof. Dr. Tomás B. Ramos
Dr. Alexandra Polido
Dr. André Mascarenhas
Increasing negative impacts of expanding human development on biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as growing inequalities within and among countries, have led to a pressing need to understand and tackle environmental, social, and economic challenges that are faced globally. The approval of the 2030 Agenda acknowledges these global challenges and represents an ambitious international step towards sustainable development. Decision-making processes, including policies, plans, programs, and projects, need to address those challenges to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the 2030 Agenda. This can be supported by sustainability assessment (SA), understood as a systematic and comprehensive approach that aims to assess the environmental, social, and economic consequences of decision-making. However, there are multiple sustainability discourses leading to different perspectives on how to advance sustainability in decision-making. Regarding the operationalization of SA, indicators are often suggested to be an effective tool to assess, monitor, and communicate sustainable development issues, due to their capability of synthesizing information, increasing transparency and accountability, and supporting decision-making. It is therefore necessary to understand the role of SA and indicators in achieving sustainable development at strategic and operational levels of planning and project processes. Hence, this Special Issue invites original research articles, case studies, reviews, critical perspectives, and viewpoint articles advancing concepts, frameworks, and applications in the fields of SA and indicators through different perspectives (e.g., through sustainability boundary objects such as ecosystem services) towards sustainable development.
Suggested topics include:
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Novel developments in sustainability assessment and indicators under different sustainability perspectives;
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Critical analyses and the advancement of concepts, frameworks, and applications related to sustainability assessment and indicators;
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Dealing with uncertainties associated with sustainability assessment and estimates provided by indicators;
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Stakeholders’ role in sustainability assessment and in the development of sustainability indicators, including co-creation and co-production initiatives;
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Advances in easy-to-understand approaches to assess and communicate sustainability;
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Institutional and governance aspects of sustainability assessment and indicators;
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Societal impacts of sustainability assessment processes and indicators;
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Integration of “immaterial societal values”, such as ethics, cultural aspects, aesthetics, justice, compassion, mutual help, and solidarity in sustainability assessment and indicator approaches;
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The role of sustainability assessment and indicators in the efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30th September 2020. Get more info here!
