Indicators of environmental sustainability: methods and applications

• Autor(a) principal: Kemerich, Pedro Daniel da Cunha
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Ritter, Luciana Gregory, Borba, Willian Fernando de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Monografias Ambientais
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufsm.br/remoa/article/view/14411
• topic: Model Pressure-State-Response; Sustainability; Ecological Footprint; Environmental indicators; Modelo Pressão-Estado-Resposta; Sustentabilidade; Pegada Ecológica

An instrument used to monitor sustainable development are sustainability indicators, which are responsible for capturing trends to inform decision-makers, guide the development and monitoring of policies and strategies. Based on the above, this paper aims to provide a summary of the key sustainability indicators and their applications. The model Pressure-State-Response highlights the links between human activity and the environment, but reduces those pressures on the environment caused by man. The model Driving Force-State-Response establishes a logical link between its components, however based on the situation in industrialized countries. The model Driving Force-Pressure-StateImpact-Response strengthens the interaction between the causes of environmental problems, impacts and responses of society, but there are still no experiences in measuring sustainability in cities, or developments since the Framework for systems Evaluation of Natural Resource Management incorporating Sustainability Indicators has an emphasis on qualitative and quantitative evaluations, however its base sits on a comparison between systems, without defining what is sustainable in isolation or unsustainable, while the Ecological Footprint shows how much capacity regenerative biosphere is being used in human activities, considering only the economic effects related to the use of resources. It can be concluded that indicators of sustainability, can collaborate to build the development under the integrative approach, considering the social, environmental and economic, to the consolidation of a sustainable society