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Highlights • An integrated approach is developed for environmental sustainability. • Climate variability has significant impacts on local environmental sustainability. • Rio Grande Basin is sustainable under current climate conditions. • Rio Grande Basin will become less sustainable in the late 21st century. Abstract Extreme weather events have been affecting local environmental sustainability. Previous literature in this field evaluates environmental sustainability based mainly on past and current resource consumption and availability, however, knowledge about the status and potential changes of environmental sustainability under future climate extremes is missing. This paper proposes an integrated approach (combining the Ecological Footprint Analysis with econometric regressions) to predict future environmental sustainability under different climate scenarios. Based on the case study of the U.S. Rio Grande Basin, the results show that this region has been sustainable in 1982–2012, although sustainability levels have been declining over time. In addition, projections for the future show that the entire region will most likely move away from sustainability by the end of this century under the high emission scenario (e.g., RCP8.5). These findings are relevant for sustainable resource management and allocation of local environmental resources as well as for decision-making support regarding climate risk adaptation and mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between sustainability and happiness is an intriguing and growing research area (Cloutier et al., 2013; Montgomery, 2013; Florida et al., 2013; Leyden et al., 2011). However, a review of primary literature and research indicates a missing gap in neighborhood level assessments of sustainability and happiness. The Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness Index (SNHI) was developed using city level data and studies (Cloutier et al., 2014), but was created with the intent of serving as a neighborhood measure. Within this paper, we detail the development of the Sustainable Neighborhoods for Happiness (SNfH) Decision Tool – a neighborhood level assessment tool, derived from the SNHI, to assist in decisions around future strategies for sustainable community development. While several sustainability decision tools exist, there is a need for those that are easily understood and accessible to neighborhood stakeholders (e.g., residents, community leaders, city employees). The SNfH Decision Tool was created with a user-friendly graphical front-end and embedded back-end calculations to inform users. The goal is to help neighborhood stakeholders identify the needs of their community to swiftly take action to alleviate issues and promote a sustainable and happy future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the importance and need to identify criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable landscaping using native plants in Qatar. The conditions for operationalizing the criteria and indicators approach are being incorporated into sustainable development practices and management planning in Qatar. This paper aims to develop criteria and related indicators for strengthening the global sustainability assessment system (GSAS) in order to provide a holistic approach for sustainable environmental assessment and the enhancement of ecosystem services. A total of 50 potentially native plant species were prioritized and categorized based on the following different parameters: weather conditions tolerated (temperature, humidity, and rainfall), multiple use value (ecological, economical, and medicinal), standard crown size (≤50 cm and ≥50 cm) and water requirement (moist, moderate, and dry). Diverse local stakeholders as well as international experts were consulted to rank the plant species, and concluded that these prioritized native species are fit for sustainable landscaping as opposed to the exotic plant species which are imported from different geo-climatic zones. Environmental, social, economic, human, and policy sustainability aspects were considered, along with 12 criteria and 49 related indicators which were identified by promoting the use of potential native plants for sustainable landscaping in Qatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated impact assessment (IA) of policies in the European Commission takes place in an environment of competing problem frames, contested policy objectives and a multitude of interested actors. This paper sets out to discuss the potential value of integrating the ecosystem services (ESS) concept for improving the consideration of environmental benefits and values during framing and appraisal of new policies at European level. The discussion was based on a workshop conducted with experts encompassing their disciplinary fields to the science–policy interface. A review of recent literature and impact assessment reports from policy science and ecosystem services research allowed for a two-way contemplation. The potential integration of concepts was analysed for conceptual, technical, ethical and pragmatic aspects. It was found that indicator sets applied in the impact assessment reports follow a much less formalised structure than the reports or the procedure. An integration of the ecosystem services concept would enhance the requisite variety of indicators used, and thus contribute to the overall goal for sustainable development. Potentials for improving IA lie particularly in the up- and downscaling of benefits and values, policy relevant comparative studies and the prospective possibilities for innovation in indicator development. Based on this rationale of improving requisite variety for future decision making, the emphasis lies on a further development of the ESS concept along two pathways of operationalisation: the translation of the concept for a comprehensive approach at a higher level of abstraction (soft application), and the application of the concept for providing aggregated, quantitative and unit-based information at different steps of an IA (hard application). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability assessment of biodiesel production is a topic of increasing importance due to the interest of governments to define sovereignty strategies and diversification of their energy matrix, and to set up the impact of biofuels production. In this context, this work aims to propose a hierarchical structure of sustainability assessment that integrates dimensions of sustainable development with principles, criteria and indicators (PC&I). The method employed to define the hierarchical structure was a comprehensive literature review, based on information search strategy and classification. About 400 documents were reviewed and 103 documents were ultimately selected, including laws, policy documents, certificates, directives and other normative documents and papers published in peer-reviewed journals. The first result of the analysis was the need to strengthen identification of the sustainable development assessment, adding the political and technological dimensions to the three traditional dimensions, social, economic and environmental, studied in this kind of evaluation. The second result was the proposal of a hierarchical framework for the sustainability assessment of biodiesel production, organized in four levels: the first level comprises the five dimensions associated with sustainable development evaluation, the second includes 13 principles, the third contains 40 criteria and the fourth level corresponds to a set of indicators that describes each criterion. Outcomes of this work provide a foundation for further discussion of sustainability assessments for biodiesel production and its potential application in specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]