What is sustainable management of natural resources, and how can it be measured?

1. What is sustainable management of natural resources, and how can it be measured? Thomas M. Parris Executive Director, New England Office ISciences, LLC parris@isciences.com June 24, 2005

2. What is sustainable management ofnatural resources? Source: Parris, TM (2003). “Toward a sustainability transition: the international consensus.” Environment 45(1) (January/February)

3. Measurement Opportunities

4. Measurement Issues • Pressure • Consumption measures may not be appropriate for poorest countries of the world • Emissions measures are typically not available for poorest countries of the world • State • Narrowly constructed measures of change in natural capital are not comparative because countries have different endowments • Difficult to establish causality with exposure/impact measures • Exposure/impact measures are typically not available for poorest countries of the word

5. Measurement Issues • Response • It’s one thing to pass legislation and create regulatory regimes, quite another to implement and enforce them • Process issues are already addressed by existing MCC measures (e.g., voice and accountability, political rights, civil liberties) • It is possible to over regulate to the point of economic burden

6. Possible Ways Forward • Policy effectiveness measures • Measure degree to which policies achieve desired outcomes • Examples: • Rate of land use change in protected areas • Decline in toxic reductions as result of TRI style “freedom of information” policy • Highly aggregated measures of change in natural capital • Change in net primary productivity • Net annual CO2 flux into the atmosphere attributable to anthropogenic land use/cover change • Green National Accounts (e.g., adjusted net savings)

7. Net annual CO2 flux into the atmosphere attributable to anthropogenic land use/cover change • Accounts for: • tropical, temperate zone, and boreal deforestation; • cultivation of mid-latitude grassland soils; • accumulations of carbon in wood products and woody debris; • losses of carbon from oxidation of wood products, woody debris, and soil organic matter; and, • the accumulation of carbon in forests recovering from harvest and in the fallows of shifting cultivation. • Accounting based approach uses national estimates of conversion rates and emissions factors. • Issues: • Annual time series stops in 2000. • Needs to be normalized by endowment. Source: Houghton, R.A., and J.L. Hackler. 2002. “Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes.” In Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. <http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/landuse/houghton/houghton.html>

8. Source: Houghton, R.A., and J.L. Hackler. 2002. “Carbon Flux to the Atmosphere from Land-Use Changes.” In Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. <http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/landuse/houghton/houghton.html>