INDICATORS ON AND OFF COURSE: TEACHING AND WORKING WITH SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS

1. INDICATORS ON AND OFF COURSE: TEACHING AND WORKING WITH SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS Dr. Peter Hardi Senior Fellow, IISD Winnipeg, Canada April 2005 phardi@iisd.ca

2. Timeliness • United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development has begun on January 1, 2005 • European ministers of environment and education adopted a strategy • develop indicators to measure the effectiveness of the implementation of the Strategy • universities’ role in educating future experts • possess more than practical know-how to use indicators • understand science and methodology behind the tools

3. What is taught on SDIs at universities (on course)? Questions to consider: • What is taught? • How is it taught? • Why is it taught? • How is it linked to practice?

4. What is taught on SDIs at universities (on course)?Examples from Canada • 1. Royal Roads University • Science, Technology and Environment Division, Master of Science in Environmental Science program • The interdisciplinary program devotes a section to SDIs • Sets model for other Canadian universities to implement SD strategies • http://www.royalroads.ca/Channels/

5. Canadian examples (cont.) 2. Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario • Campus Sustainability Assessment • The illustration below presents the way indicators are defined for the ecosystem health-human health system (based on the “egg of well-being” metaphor)

6. http://www.carleton.ca/cscn/gitp/

7. Canadian examples (cont.)3. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC • Course Agroecology 361: Key indicators on sustainable agriculture • Practical and conceptual approach • Quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess the direction and degree of sustainability of a farm or a farming system • specific application of indicator usage to an agricultural topic

8. Canadian examples (cont.)4. U of Manitoba Lectures on SD measurement and indicators: part of Ecological Economics class (Dept. Economics) Structure of the lectures: 1. Assumptions: pre-existing knowledge of basic concepts of SD, environmental protection and economics theories (including statistics and econometrics) 2. Definition of concepts related directly to the presentation: Assessment, measurement, indicators, frameworks 3. Data requirements, data processing and techniques of indicator construction 4. Role of classification in measurements and most frequent classifications

9. U of ManitobaStructure of the lecture (cont.) 5. Classification by measurement frameworks 6. Detailed presentation of indicator systems in a continuum from isolated economic and environmental frameworks through combined ones to new, holistic frameworks specifically developed for SD 7. Discussion of communicating results and channeling into decision making 8. Importance of feedback and participatory process in design of indicator systems

10. Examples for other university programs 1. Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia, UK Indicators for Sustainable Development course: • explore the current use of indicators and teach a practical, participatory and holistic approach to their development • five key areas of indicator application

11. ODG course (cont.) • Describing the current use of indicators of all kinds in a wide range of different global contexts; • Reflecting on the use of such indicators and developing a critique of good and poor practice; • Reviewing alternative methods for developing indicators of all kinds; • Learning a tried and tested holistic approach to the development of SIs - 'Systemic Sustainability Analysis'* - in the development of new indicators; and • Applying this to participants' own country contexts. (*Bell and Morse)

12. Examples for other university programs:The Baltic University Network http://www.balticuniv.uu.se/ Network of 180 universities & institutes of higher learning

13. The Baltic University Network (cont.) Courses deal directly with sustainability issues: • indicators within the context of implementation • Baltic experience with Local Agenda 21 • industrial adoption of life cycle analysis • Sustainability indicators • Frames for SD work • Actors for SD and their roles • Life Cycle Assessment

14. Dilemmas of teaching SDIs at universities • Background knowledge to build on: Is there any; how reliable? • Basic concepts and their interpretations: Conflicting values and ideologies • Theory vs. practice oriented approach • Participatory vs. expert based process • How much quantitative analysis is required: The depth of statistical and econometric techniques • Discussion of frameworks: Needed or not? • Discussion of specific areas of application: applied science or esoteric knowledge?

15. Recommendations: follow a dual path 1. Focus on theory: • Review the professional/academic discourse on SD and its assessment • analyze the leading theories and their supporting empirical bases • distill all these into the backbone of an introductory course • analyze the gray areas, the contradictions and the open questions in theories and concepts • amend the backbone with the presentation of the critical issues • signal the areas where further research and intellectual work is needed.

16. Recommendations (cont.) 2. Focus on practice: • Review existing practices aimed at implementing SD and assessing the progress in real life situations • Try to conceptualize the necessary conditions of successful projects, the expertise and technical factors needed to implement such projects • Focus on how these findings could be translated into a higher educational course that help organize and manage such processes Summing up: • Universities may help student to deal with the subject matter intellectually (on-course activity) and • empirically (off-course activity) • activity on and/or off campus.

17. What is done with SDIs at universities (off course)? Making campuses more sustainable: General approach • Mission of the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF): Make sustainability a major focus of teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities worldwide (details: see the Talloires Declaration) http://www.ulsf.org/programs_talloires_td.html

18. Specific approaches 1. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu/indicators.pdf • Sustainability Indicators, August 2001: Published in accord with the Global Reporting Initiative, Sustainability Reporting Guidelines • Prepared for baselining the University of Florida’s systems • Future work: develop metrics for benchmarking; identify numerical targets; develop composite indices and performance indicators

19. Specific approaches (cont.) 2. Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA, USA: http://physics.clarion.edu/faculty/jpearce/sustainability.html#Sustainability%20Indicators%20and%20Policy%20Report%20for%20Clarion%20University Sustainability Indicators and Policy Report for Clarion University: • builds on the prior Indicators Reports to both quantify past progress towards a sustainable Clarion University and provide a guide for future actions • provides detailed and economically viable policy recommendations to improve SDIs in order to firmly establish Clarion in a leadership role in environmental stewardship among other universities • Helps students internalize their role as members of the sustainable Clarion community

20. Specific approaches (cont.) 3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA Sustainability Assessment and Reporting for the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor Campus April 2002 http://css.snre.umich.edu/css_doc/CSS02-04.pdf

21. U of Michigan (cont.) The Report: • proposed a definition of sustainability and a framework for assessment tailored to the U-M AA; • used the framework to evaluate a set of sustainability indicators; • provided a baseline for indicators; • utilized the Triple Bottom Line concept; • provided recommendations for an institutionalized reporting process. The assessment is also a Master’s Project

22. Specific approaches: Research University of Sydney, NSW, Australia Integrated Sustainability Analysis™@ The University of Sydney http://www.isa.org.usyd.edu.au/TBLEPA.shtml • 2-year Sustainability Reporting Pilot Program to develop tools for organisations • provide a consistent framework within which companies and organisations can undertake sustainability reporting • use collaboratively defined and relevant indicators and national statistics • underpin work by established economic theory • bridge the gap between ‘hard science’ and the real-life issues and needs of people who want to make a difference in the workplace.

23. Analysis of indicator projects at universities Interest in teaching SDIs: • individual teacher’s interest • department’s conscious efforts to build a curriculum on SD • university’s policy to implement SD on the campus and beyond Accomplish this goal with three types of activities: • Education – teaching SD and, as part of it, SDIs as a scientific discipline or discourse; • Research – conducting applied scientific research on the critical issues of SD and the proper application of SDIs in the public and private sectors; and • Action – implementing projects aimed at making the campus and/or other communities more sustainable.

24. Analysis of indicator projects (cont.) • University’s obligation to educate students on issues that govern the university’s philosophy and policies • Help their students understand the concepts and practices of SD and be professionally prepared to actively participate in the implementation of the university’s policy • University as a community implementing a special set of policies has an obligation to assure the participation of its students and measure the outcome • Above two obligations together could result in the participation of students in activities on and off course • They would need to learn about SDIs on course and work with them off course • if such programs are successful, students and alumni would deal with SD and SDIs both on and off campus.

25. Analysis of indicator projects (cont.) Relationship between on and off course issues: • What do the students need to know on the subject? • How can they contribute to real life projects? • What can they learn from practical involvement? • What kind of feedback is possible and/or necessary between off course activities and on course teaching? • What kind of lessons these projects offer beyond academic carriers?

26. Answers to the first question: • Teach and discuss the definition, interpretation and everyday significance of concepts of SD and SDIs • Provide intellectual and moral motivation to participate in actual projects promoting SD, including projects on the campus • Teach how to use quantitative methods • Challenge: teaching must focus on intellectual rigor but needs to discuss uncertainties, discuss ideological components and political influence, but without advocacy

27. Answers to the second question: • Required: Empirical analysis of ongoing SD projects, their use of indicators and other measurement tools • Empirical analysis needs to be linked to the conceptual analysis • May generate new types of research • controversial, particularly participatory research • role of ethics in conducting scientific work

28. Answers to the third question: • Students participating in campus SD projects are de facto accepting not simply a scientific truth but an ideological and sometimes a political position • Reflects the university’s action to promote SD • It is important to understand that not everybody would share this vision and the related actions • Additional arguments why SD should be taught in university courses not only as part of the scientific discourse but also as part of the ethical discourse • Need further research both in the science of sustainability… • which is still in its infancy (if it exists at all) and • …and the ethical issues SD raises • through decision making and political actions to implement it.