Sustainability Indicators for Water Resource Assessment: Compatibility and Data Requirements

Session E1: Data Acquisition, Management and Processing for Sustainability Appraisal

The concept of sustainability emerged as a solution to natural resource depletion and deterioration under significant anthropogenic impacts imposed on the natural environment. Recognition that changes in the state of natural environments have complex causes and even more complex consequences motivated the development of a structured approach to managing environmental issues and their interrelations with political and economic processes. Sustainable development can be achieved through management activities which are based on sustainable decisions. To evaluate a decision's sustainability, it is necessary to evaluate and analyse values of current and future welfare outcomes. The latter requires quantitative methods, simulation models, and formal techniques for sustainability appraisal. It also explains the necessity to use quantitative indicators of sustainability. The study examines existing sustainability indicators relevant to natural water resources, their compatibility and potential usefulness for assessment of sustainability of water resource management in computerized decision support.