INTERNET FORUM
Integrated Sustainability Assessment: Identifying the range of options for Australia
November 2004 to June 2005
The internet forum purpose
- To facilitate public debate on the most appropriate ways to foster a mature Australian capacity for high quality integrated sustainability assessment and decision making;
- To provide the basis for a face-to-face conference on the same theme.
Background
In May 2002 the Australian Academy of Science hosted an internet symposium with the theme of Transition to Sustainability. In that conference, Graeme Pearman and others set out a blueprint for achieving the goal of the construction of a mature sustainability science capacity for Australia, whereby maturity is to be characterised by suitable multi-disciplinary integration.
Following on from that earlier articulated vision, the National Academies Forum commissioned a study under its Joint Academies Committee on Sustainability intended to provide an initial review of sustainability assessment projects, thus giving a preliminary indication of good practice in this field. The function of this project was to provide input to a national conference whose aim in turn was to construct a long term plan for developing a mature Australian capacity for integrated sustainability assessment and decision making.
One finding of that study was that while there are, and have been, a large number of projects conducted nationally that could arguably be classified as integrated sustainability assessments, the methodologies employed are not only extremely diverse in range, but invariably not explicitly articulated in easily accessible publications. A first step in the development of an integrated sustainability assessment capacity was to explicitly identify the range of available methods, particularly those used in practice, and to understand the strengths and limitations of each.
Hence a number of integrated sustainability assessment practitioners from around Australia were selected to write position papers to both identify methods that were applicable in this context and to articulate what good method required.
How was the internet forum conducted?
Sustainability assessment practitioners from around Australia were commissioned to write brief position papers on methods for integrated sustainability assessment, each addressing one of five themes: namely Water, Energy, Urban Systems, Institutions and Social Processes. A response to each position paper was provided by three respondents, who discussed methodological issues raised in the position papers from the perspective of their involvement in alternative projects.
The invited position papers and responses were intended to provide stimulus for public discussion in which all interested individuals were encouraged to participate. The public discussion forum opened in March 2005.
As mentioned above, an initial review of good practice in integrated sustainability assessment was also conducted, in parallel to the internet forum. The aim of that review was to identify projects that appeared to have something substantive to contribute to the development of integrated sustainability assessment capacity, and in particular, to identify where required methods were either non-existent, poorly understood, or not well articulated. That report, prepared by Dr Thomas Brinsmead, is available here.
For further information, contact Dr Thomas Brinsmead.
Conference management
The conference was hosted and managed by the National Academies Forum under the guidance of its Joint Academies Committee on Sustainability.
Joint Academies Committee on Sustainability
John Beaton, Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA)
John Byron, Australian Academy of the Humanities (AHA)
Keith Daniel, Optiscan (ATSE)
Graham Farquhar, Australian National University (AAS)
Aynsley Kellow, University of Tasmania (ASSA)
Cliff Hooker, University of Newcastle (AHA)
Kurt Lambeck, Australian National University (AAS)
Ian Rae, University of Melbourne (ATSE)
Peter Scaife, University of Newcastle
Brian Walker, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems