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Policy and industry decision makers place high priority on the contribution of biomass to the emerging low carbon, circular economy. Optimisation of performance, from the perspectives of environmental, social and economic sustainability and resource efficiency, is essential to successful development and operation of biomass value chains. The complexity of value chains, which comprise interrelated stages from land use to conversion and multiple end products, presents challenges.To date, decision makers have approached from the viewpoints of single market sectors or issues, such as market shares of bioeconomy and reduction of carbon emissions to mitigate climate change. This approach does not achieve a full understanding of value chains and their competitive priorities, limits consumer awareness, and poses risks of sub-optimal performance and under-development of potential local capacity.This paper presents a conceptual framework that combines value chain analysis and competitive priority theory with indicators suitable to measure, monitor and interpret sustainability and resource efficiency at value chain level. The case of biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is used to illustrate how optimisation strategies can be focused to address challenges in value chain stages which will lead to better performance and uptake of sustainably sourced, widely accepted biomass options. Highlights •Biomass is a key component in policy for low carbon and circular economy.•Decision makers are increasingly exploring varied, innovative value chains with high complexity.•They face challenges with sustainability, fragmented metrics, and decisions often lack coherent systems thinking.•This prevents developing optimisation strategies to overcome challenges and create value at local level.•This paper combines value chain and competitive priority theory to assess performance and enable efficient decision making.

The increasing focus on circular economy at the level of governments and policy requires the development of appropriate indicators to effectively monitor the progress towards the circular economy. Currently two very different types of indicator areas are under development: (i) monitoring frameworks based on macro indicators that summarize the progress at (supra)national level, and (ii) micro indicators tailored towards assessing circularity at the level of products. It is not possible to obtain sufficiently direct feedback about the impact of policy interventions by either macro or micro indicators alone. In this paper, a conceptual approach is developed that aims to bridge the gap between the micro and macro level with meso level indicators, and thus ultimately deliver more direct feedback for policymakers, via the insertion of an extra level of meso indicators in between the macro and the micro level. These indicators have been extracted from a dedicated workshop that involved policy, sector and societal stakeholders. The aim of these indicators is to report on progress towards circular economy objectives based on the fulfillment of societal needs. In this way the consumption perspective is given a central position, and the role of circular business models is acknowledged. Following the development of the concept, the next steps towards tailored, flexible and agile monitoring frameworks for circular economy at (supra)national and regional level are outlined. The paper concludes with an illustrative example of the framework applied to the mobility system.

The paper presents a possible approach for creating business decisions based on multi-criteria analysis. Seven options for a possible revitalization of the thermal power plant Kolubara-A Unit No. 2 with energy indicators of sustainable development (EISD) are presented in this paper. The chosen EISD numerically express the essential features of the analyzed options, while the sustainability criteria indicate the option quality within the limits of these indicators. In this paper, the criteria for assessing the sustainability options are defined based on several aspects: economic, social, environmental and technological. In the process of assessing the sustainability of the considered options the Analysis and Synthesis of Parameters under Information Deficiency (ASPID) method was used. In this paper, the EISD show that production and energy consumption are closely linked to economic, environmental and other indicators, such as economic and technological development of local communities with employment being one of the most important social parameter. Multi-criteria analysis for the case study of the TPP Kolubara-A clearly indicated recommendations to decision makers on the choice of the best available options in dependence on the energy policy. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This opinion paper introduces a special series of articles dedicated to freshwater benthic algae and their use in assessment and monitoring. This special series was inspired by talks presented at the 9th International Congress on the Use of Algae for Monitoring Rivers and Comparable Habitats (Trento, Italy, 2015), the latest of a series of meetings started in 1991.In this paper, we will first provide a brief overview of phytobenthos methods in Europe. Then, we will turn towards the ‘dark side’ of phytobenthos and describe four particular problems for phytobenthos assessment in the European Union: (1) over-reliance on a single group of algae (mostly diatoms) to the exclusion of other groups; (2) relatively low adoption of benthic algae for ecological assessments in lakes; (3) absence of measures of phytobenthos abundance; (4) approaches used to define boundaries between ecological classes.Following this, we evaluate the strengths and limitations of current phytobenthos assessment methods against 12 criteria for method evaluation addressing four areas: ecological rationale, performance, feasibility of implementation, and use in communication and management. Using these criteria, we identify and discuss three general challenges for those developing new methods for phytobenthos-based assessment: a weak ecological rationale and insufficient consideration of the role of phytobenthos as a diagnostic tool and for communicating ecosystem health beyond a narrow group of specialists.The papers in the special series allow a comparison with the situation and approaches in the USA, present new methods for the assessment of ecological status and acidification, provide tools for an improved management of headwaters and petrifying springs, discuss the utility of phytobenthos for lake assessments, and test the utility of functional measures (such as biofilm phosphorus uptake capacity, PUC).

The concept of resilience is increasingly used in academic and policy circles. To operationalize this concept and reduce the ambiguities surrounding it, since the turn of the century, various resilience assessment methodologies have been introduced. This paper provides a critical review of 36 selected community resilience assessment tools. These tools have been developed by a variety of entities, including national and local organizations, international donor organizations, and academic researchers. First, an overview of the selected tools is presented. This overview analysis shows that while some commonalities exist, there are also considerable differences between the tools. Next, based on literature review, an analytical framework is developed that identifies six criteria for evaluating performance of resilience assessment tools. These are, namely, addressing multiple dimensions of resilience, accounting for cross-scale relationships, capturing temporal dynamism, addressing uncertainties, employing participatory approaches, and developing action plans. Results show that limited success has been achieved in addressing these criteria. In terms of comprehensiveness, the environmental dimension has received relatively less attention in spite of its significance for building community resilience. Further improvements are needed to account for dynamics over time and across space. More attention to employing iterative processes that involve scenario-based planning is needed to better address challenges associated with uncertainties. Results also show that more attention needs to be paid to stakeholder participation in developing assessment tools. The paper concludes by highlighting several other areas of weakness that need to be addressed and discussing major challenges that still remain.

For the evaluation of performance at the national level are used the different indicators in comparison with business level. The paper is focused on evaluation of indicators of national health systems’ performance at the level WHO “better health”. The aim of paper is to define the specifics of selected health systems in European Union, analyze and evaluate the selected indicators of performance of these systems which are used by WHO, compare the results of the analysis in these health systems and determine the position of the Czech health system in the set of indicators “better health” in comparison with other countries. The indicators are evaluated in the time series.

This theoretical paper identifies the main corporate innovative activities and public innovation support systems characterizing factors and their assessment rates by providing factor groups and measured indicators. Presented complex of various innovation measurement indexes can help corporative decision makers to focus on the areas to be developed as wee as for the trends to be fostered during the estimated strategical corporative decisions making period. Paper presents vertical and horizontal decision making features focused on innovation as most competitive factor as well as the main features and criteria of innovation measurement in corporative decisions, accepted and well-used by main innovations measurement institutions.

The sustainability of agricultural systems is of paramount concern in order to ensure the survival and wellbeing of humans throughout the world. Sustainability is a complex issue involving multiple factors that fit broadly within economic, social and environmental areas. Given its complexity, this paper examines the question of how sustainability can be assessed in a way that gives a holistic picture of the separate and interrelated factors. The paper then presents a literature review, field experience and the use of complex adaptive systems to identify the issues and concerns that need to be addressed during agricultural sustainability assessment and categorizes them into in seven groups: integration of capitals; maintaining resilience, adaptation and transformation; ensuring system performance; involving stakeholders; mixing interdisciplinary views; integration of scales; and practicing good governance. Based on these issues and concerns, a set of indicators are suggested that will assist with holistic agricultural sustainability assessment in a given area.

One effect of passing through the world financial crisis is to pay closer attention to compliance with the regulations of business by banks and other financial institutions. In recent times there has also been an increase in the importance of compliance units involved in the management of compliance risk in the bank. The author in the paper highlights the need to risk monitoring of non-compliance with the regulations and presents some monitoring tools of this kind of risk in the bank. Examples of tools and techniques presented in the paper relate to banks operating in Poland. These are mainly methods based on using indicators, supported by information technology tools for business process management. The scope of compliance evolved last years to a much broader area. The author of the paper draws attention to the growing popularity of the approach integrating operational and compliance risk

From 2022 onwards the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will guide biodiversity conservation actions worldwide, which includes mainstreaming biodiversity into a wide range of activities, sectors and policies. Biodiversity mainstreaming in development cooperation is particularly relevant given the direct dependence of many communities in the Global South on biodiversity and on the benefits it provides. We conducted a Delphi survey among development cooperation practitioners at the aid provider (donor) side, to gain insight into current and future (post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework) biodiversity mainstreaming and its monitoring. Our results demonstrate that despite efforts towards biodiversity mainstreaming and its monitoring, biodiversity mainstreaming indicators remain inconsistent and difficult to compare. The lack of biodiversity data, as well as their low accessibility and suboptimal use, and the inherent complexity of addressing biodiversity loss are considered key challenges. Respondents indicated that they strongly orient their own biodiversity mainstreaming and monitoring approaches towards international biodiversity governance dynamics. We conclude that, at least on paper, the indicator ambitions of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework are in line with the expectations and challenges of aid providers with respect to biodiversity mainstreaming. However, future effective mainstreaming of biodiversity requires indicator-based monitoring, exchange of good practices among aid partners, and a continued focus on awareness-raising regarding the linkages between biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.

This paper describes a comprehensive humanitarian assessment tool designed and used following the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. The tool was developed under Joint Task Force – Haiti coordination using indicators of humanitarian needs to support decision making by the United States Government, agencies of the United Nations, and various non-governmental organizations. A set of questions and data collection methodology were developed by a collaborative process involving a broad segment of the Haiti humanitarian relief community and used to conduct surveys in internally displaced person settlements and surrounding communities for a four-month period starting on 15 March 2010. Key considerations in the development of the assessment tool and data collection methodology, representative analysis results, and observations from the operational use of the tool for decision making are reported. The paper concludes with lessons learned and recommendations for design and use of similar tools in the future.

One of important managerial tasks is to find the optimum degree of centralization for each situation. Accordingly, development of quantitative measures of centralization/decentralization appears to be steadily actual problem. Development of such measures usually starts with a formalization of the object of measurement. For this purpose in the paper is outlined a conceptual model of business process decomposition. Further, this paper is concerned with proposed approaches to the measurement of structural properties of business process centralization. Subsequently, the measures are subjected to comparison to identify their pros and cons.

Integrating social demands into landscape management has been proven difficult because of a lack of suitable measures. In order to address this issue this article describes the development of the Index of Function Suitability (IFS). This offers an integrated conceptual tool for incorporating social demands into landscape management. The IFS links preferences to land cover spatial patterns as it uses quantitative indicators for gauging differences between the preferred landscape patterns by users, for a certain activity related to an amenity function (e.g. hunting), and the land cover patterns of a given rural area (either at the present or from scenarios developed for the future). Introducing the measurement of the difference between the preferred spatial patterns and the landscape patterns occurring in a given landscape is a fundamental conceptual development represented in the IFS. By using the same set of indicators to quantify different land cover patterns, the IFS gauges quantitatively the differences between their spatial patterns, thus providing landscape managers with an indication of the suitability of changing land covers to support the selected amenity functions. In this paper, the conceptual aspects, as well as the methodological steps of the IFS were explained and further applied to one empirical case study in the Alentejo region of Portugal. This paper also examines both the strengths and weaknesses of the IFS approach along with a discussion for improvement.

The main subject of this paper refers to an analysis of the recent trends and evolution of Romanian competitiveness compared to the European Union competitiveness and it is structured in four main parts. The first section of the paper regards an introduction of the competitiveness evolution process, recalling the three actual evaluation models of the competitiveness level. In the second part of the paper there can be found the competitiveness indexes practiced and published by the World Economic Forum, indicators that are structured on three main levels as following: the Global Competitiveness Index and its aggregate indicators that are developed on three categories of factors that are essential for the competitiveness process (Basic requirements, Efficienty Enhancers, Innovation and sophistication factors) and the indexes associated to the twelve pillars of competitiveness: Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic stability, Health and primary education, Higer education and training, Goods market efficiency, Labor market efficiency, Financial market sophistication Technological readiness, Market size, Business sophistication, Innovation. Based on the values obtained after consulting the World Economic Forum Reports and regarding the competitiveness from a global perspective, the third part of the paper presents a comparative analyses of the evolution of the Romanian competitiveness process and the one of the EU27. In the last part of the paper there can be found the conclusions of this analysis, with respect to the values found.

CONTEXT: To address sustainability challenges in agriculture, private and multi-stakeholder initiatives increasingly use sustainability indicators to monitor the sustainability impact of farms. These indicators can be part of standards for certification or assessment tools to measure farm performance. While these initiatives play an important role in navigating the sustainability transition, insight in how these governance initiatives operationalize sustainability in crop farming is lacking. OBJECTIVE: This paper examines how private and multi-stakeholder governance initiatives, which increasingly regulate the sustainability of a sizeable portion of agriculture globally, operationalize the concept of sustainability. It provides understanding into which sustainability themes are commonly included in sustainability initiatives, and those that are not, which can give insight into the direction these initiatives are steering crop production worldwide. METHODS: We developed an overview of governance initiatives using databases and existing research on sustainable agriculture initiatives. Documentation about these initiatives was gathered and used to systematically review descriptive and institutional characteristics of the 29 sustainability assessment and standard initiatives. Moreover, we analyzed the kinds of indicators (i.e., performance, practice, and target) and the themes that are prioritized in the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The analysis shows that the 29 initiatives are very diverse in their characteristics. While some specifically focus on one crop or country, others operate across production chains and at a global scale. Within specific sectors or countries, certain standards are quite influential, for instance, the Better Cotton Initiative covers 22% of global cotton production, while in Ireland, 70% of horticulture farmers are Origin Green certified. Globally, 2% of the crop land is certified under one of the 14 standards that reported land use. Our analysis of sustainability themes show an imbalance across environmental, social, an economic sustainability, with environmental sustainability being prioritized. In particular, social themes such as quality of life, food sovereignty and fair trading practices were less often included (38, 24 and 21% respectively). SIGNIFICANCE: Sustainability standard and assessment initiatives govern a substantial and growing portion of global cropland. They play a central role in determining what is considered sustainable and thereby influence which farming practices are applied worldwide. The impact of these initiatives is likely to continue to grow as sustainability assessments and standards become more widely adopted. In examining a large sample of standard and assessment initiatives, this study presents a comprehensive overview of the current state of sustainability indicators for crop farming globally.

Current adaptation responses to sea-level rise tend to focus on protecting existing infrastructure resulting in unsustainable adaptation pathways. At the same time, urban development compromises a city’s adaptive capacity if the climate risk component is ignored. While fighting for the same space, these two domains are currently widely analyzed separately. This paper develops a framework for integrating sustainability assessments of sustainable urban development (SUD) and coastal adaptation to climate change (CACC). Through a systematic literature review, we collected more than 2,700 indicators for SUD and 1,800 indicators for CACC. The indicators occurring most frequently are extracted and structured into frameworks. The study highlights the differences and similarities between the two frameworks. We further identify complementary and conflicting objectives that can advance or inhibit the effective integration of SUD and CACC. CACC tends to focus on assessing specific adaptation measures and their immediate impact on the city’s vulnerability, ignoring wider impacts on socioeconomic systems. SUD considers the city and its functions as a whole but ignores vulnerability assessments across urban subsystems. We develop a combined framework for sustainability assessment that may serve as a basis for both qualitative and quantitative integrated studies under the paradigm of sustainable adaptation.

Forest degradation is a gradual process through which the forest's biomass declines, the species composition and vertical complexity change and the soil physicochemical properties degrade. Evaluating forest degradation is challenging, as it needs measurable indicators in order to compare different states of degraded forest with forests in optimal conditions. The UAV-SfM technique, combining imagery taken from unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAV) and Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, offers the opportunity to model forests in three dimensions and to derive ecological indicators describing forest conditions. The research objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent information on forest degradation can be derived with UAV-SfM techniques. The Dry Chaco ecosystem in Argentina offers us the possibility to study the effects of a long history of anthropogenic disturbances on subtropical broadleaf dry forests. We surveyed a sample of 54 forest plots with different degradation histories with a UAV. Based on existing literature on forest ecology, two main degradation mechanisms were defined: loss of vertical integrity and vertical complexity. Multivariate statistical techniques were applied on structural indicators extracted from the 3D canopy model to classify the forest plots into groups or clusters with similar forest conditions. Next, the structural characteristics of the clusters were discussed in the light of a conceptual framework on forest degradation in the Dry Chaco. The results show that objective criteria derived from UAV-SfM 3D canopy models can be used to differentiate (1) forests in good condition from (2) forests that were subject to extensive processes of degradation, (3) forest with a dominance of shrubs and low trees, (4) forests intensively disturbed and (5) low vegetation dominated by bare soils with shrubs. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a direct, multi-dimensional measure of women's access to resources and decision-making in various domains of agriculture. However, several challenges characterize its use: adaptation of questionnaires to local agricultural contexts, modifications to index construction once underlying activities and adequacy thresholds are modified, and sensitivity analysis. In this paper, we address such challenges based on our experience of adapting and using the WEAI across 3600 households in India. In doing so we contribute to the methodological and technical base underlying the index, expand the WEAI evidence base for South Asia, and highlight the importance of tailoring the index to specific agricultural contexts in order to impact public policies in a meaningful way., Highlights • The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (AWEAI) is contextually adapted for 3600 households in India. • We find that on average women in all four of our locations are disempowered in agriculture. • Disempowered women lack membership to agriculture-related Self- Help Groups, ownership of land and control over incomes. • There are significant differences between the original and our India- specific version of the AWEAI in each district.

The pivotal role that urbanisation plays in global development trajectories is clearly acknowledged by the United Nations 2030 Agenda that, among its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, explicitly argues in favour of cities and human settlements to be more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG11). Whereas SDG11 targets are paired with one or more indicators to monitor their achievement, in some cases this process is not straightforward. In particular, when it comes to Target 11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning, the identified indicator does not seem able to grasp the complexity of national and regional governance, policy and planning. With the aim to contribute to this concern, the paper conceptually discusses the contents and implications of the SDG11 target 11.a. On this basis, it develops a multi-dimensional set of indicators to assess the quality of spatial governance and planning in a given context, and divides them into three main categories: (i) procedural indicators, (ii) instrumental indicators and (iii) financial indicators. The result of this work is a toolbox that may support decision-makers and policy-makers in assessing the quality of the efforts they put in place to make their cities and territories more sustainable as well as to reflect on what measures and initiatives could make this action more effective.

Recently, the Circular Economy paradigm has emerged as an alternative to linear and unsustainable production and consumption systems. In order to implement Circular Economy practices and evaluate their effects, organisations need adequate measurement tools. These tools should extend beyond the single firm boundary and consider the complexity of supply chains, material flows, and environmental and social impacts. However, no established indicator exists to assist the transition of supply chains to a higher degree of circularity; also, most of the literature on Circular Economy indicators has focused on the firm rather than on the supply chain as the level of analysis. Through a Systematic Literature Review, this paper examines decision support tools, and related indicators, employed for assessing the performance of Circular Supply Chains in the academic literature. In parallel, a content analysis and a template technique are employed to evaluate how Multi National Enterprises measure the effect of the adoption of Circular Economy practices in their reports. Results are synthesised in two composite indicators, which aggregate the most commonly employed metrics. Findings show that both academic literature and industrial practice show a scarce consideration of social and circularity measurements, rather focusing on classical environmental impacts and economic ones. In the academic literature, the economic dimension is prevalent; practitioners seem to evaluate and communicate more often the environmental impacts of already adopted Circular Economy practices. Also, different indicators’ categories (monetary, biophysical, composite indicators) are recognised, according to their choices in terms of selection and aggregation of different metrics and to the contribution they can bring to the transition from linear to circular supply chains.

The present study synthesizes existing literature on Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability (FEV) assessments across the world's mountain regions. The synthesis reveals a globally substantial number of studies are available on FEV assessment. However, such studies are limited in the mountain regions. Of the total 75 peer-reviewed research papers considered for synthesis, there are 61 (81.32%) studies specific to the country, 6 (8%) to continental, 4 (5.34%) to global scales, and the remaining 4 (5.34%) to local. The study results reveal that most assessments are model-based projections, where complex topography of mountains creates uncertainty for climate projections in limited analyses of socio-ecological indicators. Only a few studies (12%) have considered socio-ecological and ground-based data, which are primarily required for adaptation and management planning at the local level. Overall synthesis of literature provided vital information on climate change impacts and suggested management and adaptation plans but was far from a broad reality for the future of the mountain ecosystem under the paradox of climate change. Scales, targets, indicators, and assessment approaches varied widely and focused on only a subset of resources. We recommend forest managers should critically examine the scale, indicators, methods, and targets when planning forest vulnerability assessments. This synthesis of FEV assessment will help suggest the best approaches and indicators given the limited number of model studies in the mountain area for decision and policy making for forest resource management.

The transport capacity of an urban railway line can be increased in many different ways. For planners and infrastructure managers it is vital to have all the tools available that allow choosing the most cost-effective solution among all the possibilities. This selection process can be complex sometimes and deciding how the available capacity should be increased is an important decision with significant financial consequences. In this paper new transport capacity indicators suitable for urban lines are presented; that can be used as a guide by decision-makers to help them decide on infrastructure capacity improvements. The indicators ease the process of deciding among different alternatives by considering the specific capacity improvement they involve individually. The model uses a railway simulator that allows obtaining the minimum departure-arrival itinerary times in the station under study. It has been applied to a case study in a suburban commuter line in Barcelona. Specifically, to the station of Provenca that is a station with long Dwell Times during rush hour and belonging to the Spanish railway operator FGC. This case demonstrates the indicators application and contributions; it also shows that it would be possible to extend the same kind of study to other nodes allowing the systematization of their capacity improvement by fine-tuning their signaling system.

The research presented in this paper has two main objectives. First, it aims to generate an assessment tool for ranking and selecting the most sustainable domestic water-heating system (WHS) (with the lowest economic, environmental and social impact) that could be applied in any location and with any demand. Second, it aims to ascertain which WHS is the most sustainable in places with a climate and solar radiation like that of Barcelona, Spain, where a minimum solar contribution to domestic water heating is compulsory for new buildings and significant renovations. Multi-criteria decision analysis was employed to create the optimised flexible assessment tool. The Delphi method was followed to perform the surveys, and to provide the objectivity required in the identification of impacts, the definition of indicators and the assignment of weights. The most relevant criteria were determined: annual cost, material consumption, energy consumption, GHG emissions, space requirement, visual impact and occupational risks. The resulting tool was tested by analysing twelve domestic WHS, including two conventional systems, and ten combinations of five solar thermal technologies with two conventional systems as backup for a changing room in a sport centre located in Barcelona. The two conventional WHS studied were a natural gas-fired condensing boiler and an electric water heater. The five solar thermal technologies were: a flat plate with a harp design, a flat plate with a serpentine design, a heat-pipe evacuated tube, a direct-flow evacuated tube, and a direct-flow evacuated tube with CPC. The dynamic thermal simulation programme T*SOL was used to dimension the solar thermal systems. Two sensitivity analyses were carried out: one on weights and one on references. The tool proved very useful in the assessment of these systems, and could also help in decision-making processes to select the most sustainable WHS for other locations and domestic hot water demands.

In port cities, a smooth integration of the port and the city represents a relevant feature, as it allows to avoid negative mutual effects which can compromise the functioning of the two systems. In fact, the interaction between the port and the city regards not only the economy and transport, but also the environmental, managerial and social fields. Thus, it is essential to identify and design the most appropriate course of action in order to boost the interrelationship between these two entities, along with an efficient performance of port operations: this is possible by adopting a well-structured evaluation methodology that permits to consider many features of the issue at hand and the perspective of various stakeholders. This paper introduces an integrated evaluation method, which combines an analysis by indicators and a multi-stakeholder multi-criteria decision analysis. The method was applied to evaluate the possible implementation of two activities aiming at promoting the port-city integration through the enhancement of freight management in the Port of Trieste. The explicit engagement of the most significant stakeholders in the appraisal procedure and the understanding of their influence over the main goal of the evaluation are specific features of the method.

Building code are considered to be an effective policy tool to reduce energy use in buildings. In practice, national priorities influence the indicators and criteria adopted in the building codes. Consequently, neighbouring countries with similar climate conditions may use different criteria in their building codes to regulate the energy performance. In this paper, the energy performance criteria and their relative stringency in the latest residential building codes of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia are compared. The study is based on energy performance evaluations of one single-family building and one multi-family building, located in the north of Sweden. Both buildings complied with the Norwegian and Russian building code. However, the buildings did not comply with the specific fan power and heat loss criteria in the Finnish building code. Additionally, the single-family building did not comply with the specific primary energy and electric powerdemand criteria in the Swedish building code when heated by an electric heater. The national standard input data were found to have a large influence on the buildings’ compliance with the studied energy use criteria. Policy implications of the results are discussed.

One of the key features of nature-based solutions (NBSs) is their high effectiveness and economic and resource efficiency in solving problems compared to traditional grey interventions. These aspects, however, have so far attracted little attention in the literature but should be considered, as the evaluation of NBS projects before implementation provides an opportunity to use them as practical tools. This paper aims to present a new evaluation framework of NBS projects (at the stage of solution selection) based on the application of performance questions and the indicators approach. The framework consists of three main stages: (1) the formulation of the project aim(s), including the problem(s) to be solved, the scales of the expected effects and the thresholds to be achieved; (2) the elimination of solutions that do not fit the local conditions and setting requirements; and (3) the examination of the performance questions. To consider the whole spectrum of influencing factors, a systematic review was performed to indicate the main concepts related to the issue of NBS effectiveness, including (1) stakeholders' participation, (2) policy and management capability, (3) economic efficiency, (4) analysis of synergies and trade-offs, (5) adaptation to local conditions, (6) adequate spatial scale and (7) performance in the long term. In the current study around 130 indicators were identified for the evaluation of NBS projects. Regarding the impact on the state of knowledge, the present work contributes to the discussion on the conceptual sphere of NBS and its practical implementation by introducing multi-perspective standards and guidelines for the selection of possible NBS projects, and it deals with the complexity of synergies and the trade-offs between benefits

Research shows that, lack of ideal pedestrian environment along with increase in number of vehicles is responsible for declination in walking. This paper formulates an index with five main domains which have also been used to outline the phrase “Pedestrian environment”. The domains and subsequent indicators were identified through meta-analysis of literature studies as well as reconnaissance surveys in the chosen city of Bengaluru. The major aim of this research is to prioritize and emphasize the shaping parameters, contributing to pedestrian environment and steering future investments in that direction to eventually benefit the pedestrians and to encourage pedestrian activity. The index will be utilized in assessing the pedestrian environmental scenario at a street level for different land uses. As part of a pilot study, observation surveys in streets with high pedestrian activity in 3 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Corporation wards with different land uses, were carried out. Subsequently the index scores for each of the streets were calculated. By availing quantitative results, we were able to conduct intensive comparative studies between roads of similar hierarchies and different land uses. Through the pilot study result, we could identify those streets which require prompt attention and the sequence in which the investments can be directed. This index will aid the governing bodies in progressive decision making, as well as help prioritize and schedule pedestrian-oriented investments. The output of the entire research entails in the documentation of the study into a useful model to planners.

Landslides frequently occur in the Himalayan part and often cause loss to human life, houses and other infrastructure. Community resilience is extensively employed in studying hazards and disasters. In this paper, we tried to assess resilience of households in a landslide affected area of Pakistan. Indicators and their concerned variables regarding resilience to landslides were identified through literature and then the primary data about these indicators were collected through questionnaire survey from 200 randomly selected households. Overall landslides resilience is the cumulative effect of the four constituent indicators including social, economic, institutional and physical. Each constituent indicator comprised of relevant variables. Weights were assigned to the selected variables using subjective assessment method based on a percentage scale ranging from 01. A variable resilience index was first calculated for each variable and then indices for each of the four constituent indicators were calculated using average method. Finally, the composite resilience index was also calculated from the values of the constituent indicators using average method. The analysis revealed low values of resilience for rural fringe as compared to urban fringe and inner city. This research stresses the need to enhance the physical, institutional, economic and social indicators of the households. The study recommends that disaster management authorities should play their role for enhancing resilience of the households through appropriate measures in this landslide prone area of Pakistan.

In some optimization problems found in applications, the derivatives of the objective function can be computed or approximated but at an expensive cost, and it is desirable to know when to use derivative-free methods (such as direct search, for instance) or derivative-based methods (such as gradient or quasi-Newton methods). Derivative-free methods may achieve a steady initial progress for some problems, but after some advance they may also become slower or even stagnate due to the lack of derivatives. It is thus of interest to provide a way to appropriately switch from a derivative-free method to a derivative-based one. In this paper, we develop a family of indicators for such a switch based on the decrease properties of both classes of methods (typically used when deriving worst case complexity bounds).

This paper examines the dynamics of gender-based disparities in the intra-household allocation of food during childhood and adolescence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by using three rounds of longitudinal data from two cohorts. While boys are advantaged at all ages (except for the Younger Cohort at 12 years old), the pro-boy gap widens markedly at 15 years old. Specifically, mid-adolescent girls tend to consume fewer protein- and vitamin-rich foods such as eggs, legumes, root vegetables and fruit. This result is robust to gender differences between adolescents in terms of puberty onset, school enrolment, time use and dietary behaviours. Finally, gender disparities in dietary diversity during early and mid-adolescence do not vary by maternal education, poverty or place of residence, whilst they are moderated by levels of caregiver's educational aspirations at 15 years old.

Aussi bien dans les États qu’au niveau international, il est devenu courant de s’appuyer sur des indicateurs pour fixer des objectifs quantifiés et évaluer l’évolution de l’action publique et des fonctionnements administratifs. La recherche en sciences sociales qui traite du développement des indicateurs de performance est abondante et relève de traditions intellectuelles variées. Beaucoup assimilent ce mouvement à une composante du tournant néo-libéral et à une manifestation du New Public Management. Ce dossier explore les tensions entre l’utilisation d’indicateurs et l’exercice du pouvoir, en soulignant l’ambivalence de cette relation, le chiffre étant tantôt craint, tantôt désiré. Trois dimensions interdépendantes sont distinguées pour analyser le gouvernement par les indicateurs : les enjeux de savoir, les logiques de pouvoir et les formes de publicisation qui leur sont associées. Les quatre textes rassemblés portent principalement sur le suivi des résultats de politiques publiques, nationales ou internationales, abordés par des auteurs relevant de plusieurs disciplines. Ils rappellent que l’élaboration d’indicateurs participe de la construction des problèmes publics pris en charge. Ils confirment l’intérêt des analyses qui prennent au sérieux d’une part la fabrication des nombres et les conventions de calcul retenues et, d’autre part, les dispositifs de gouvernement dans lesquels ils s’inscrivent. Enfin, ils montrent que le gouvernement par les indicateurs débouche sur des formes nouvelles de bureaucratisation. At national as well as at international level, it has become frequent to use indicators to set quantified goals and to monitor the evolution of public policies and bureaucracies. Social science research dealing with the development of performance measures is extensive and related to various intellectual traditions. Many consider this movement as a component of the neo-liberal turn and as an expression of the New Public Management. This symposium explores the tensions between the use of indicators and the exercise of power, underlining the ambivalence of this relationship, figures being both feared and desired. Three interdependent dimensions are differentiated to analyse the government by numbers: the challenges of knowledge, the logic of power and the types of publicisation that are linked to them. The four collected papers mainly deal with questions related to the monitoring of the results of public policies, discussed by authors belonging to various disciplines. They remind us that the definition of indicators plays a role in the manufacturing of political problems. They confirm how important it is to analyse in depth the way numbers are created and computed as well as the management and government devices in which they are embedded. Finally, they show that the government by indicators often triggers new forms of bureaucratisation.

How agriculture can improve human nutrition is a topic of debate. Recent reviews demonstrate little impact on nutritional status but do not critically examine the choice of appropriate outcome indicators. This paper reviews which nutrition impact indicators are currently used in agriculture-nutrition projects, and highlights priorities and gaps in measurement. Many project evaluations are statistically underpowered to observe impact on nutritional status, but appear to be powered to observe impacts on food consumption and dietary quality, which we conclude are an appropriate level of impact of agriculture-nutrition projects. To improve the evidence base, there is a need to develop indicators of outcomes that are not being fully measured, including dietary quality and food security, women's empowerment, health environments, and food environments.

Plausible data that illustrates future trends of waste production dynamics is essential for waste management system development. Optimal decisions regarding technological solutions for waste management or policy instrument application can be made if correct figures regarding the amounts of waste produced are available. This paper presents a study on the elaboration of estimations of municipal waste generation. The study covers the elaboration of a research algorithm, analysis of characteristics of factors that influence dynamics of waste amounts produced, and the elaboration and analysis of potential scenarios. As a result of this research, a prognosis of the waste amounts to be generated in for Latvia for the 2015 – 2020 period is elaborated.

Despite the plethora of comprehensive review of campus sustainability assessment tools, reporting, and indicators in the extant literature, studies are absent specifically on campus-wide and spatial-based indicators in existing tools. Although, several academic campuses across the globe are located on a vast area of land with multiple activities and operations associated with serious ecological consequences. This paper explores the environmental-dimension indicators with spatial and campus-wide attributes in 13 existing campus sustainability appraisal tools via coverage evaluation and the SMART approach. The findings reveal a severe absence of comprehensive coverage of spatial-based indicators and the lack of the integration of a GIS and or related spatial software in their appraisal process. The article demonstrates how integrating GIS and or other related spatial techniques and software into environmental dimension indicators with campus-wide and spatial attributes could be carried out to remedy the challenges of absence, inadequate of or restrained access to basic information for campus sustainability appraisal project in developing world.

Technology decline is a central element of sustainability transitions. However, transition scholars have only just begun to analyze decline. This paper uses the technological innovation systems (TIS) perspective to study decline. Our case is nuclear energy, which is at a crossroads. Some view nuclear as a key technology to address climate change, while others see an industry in decline. We examine a broad range of empirical indicators at the global scale to assess whether or not nuclear energy is in decline. We find that an eroding actor base, shrinking opportunities in liberalized electricity markets, the break-up of existing networks, loss of legitimacy, increasing cost and time overruns, and abandoned projects are clear indications of decline. Also, increasingly fierce competition from natural gas, solar PV, wind, and energy-storage technologies speaks against nuclear in the electricity sector. We conclude that, while there might be a future for nuclear in state-controlled ‘niches’ such as Russia or China, new nuclear power plants do not seem likely to become a core element in the struggle against climate change. Our conceptual contribution is twofold. First, we show how the TIS framework can be mobilized to study technology decline. Second, we explore a range of indicators to cover the multiple dimensions of decline, including actors, institutions, technology, and context. info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

The paper presents 4Agro, a new model for the assessment of environmental, social and economic sustainability of farms. The framework is based on a set of 42 indicators. The process has involved the following steps: identification of the most relevant variables that characterizes sustainability performances of farms, choice of the appropriate indicators, assignment of their range scores, data collection, calculation of the score for each farm and their visualization by graphic representation. The case study was represented by fifty farms from the South Milan Agricultural Park (Northern Italy). The method allows a comparison among farms or homogeneous groups of them, showing the sensitivity to their characteristics and farmers’ choices. The research shows the framework of 4Agro and discusses some relevant points related to the selection and weighting of indicators.

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The implementation of sustainability in higher education has been advanced over at least the last two decades and brought sustainability assessment on the research agenda of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and sustainability science. Participatory approaches have gained increasing attention in these endeavours, but remain often vague and less addressed in sustainability assessment procedures. To fill in this gap, an indicator-based model, INDICARE, was developed that can assist in assessing participatory processes within higher education's sustainability initiatives. The objective of this paper is to introduce and discuss the model's theoretical background, its structure, applicability, and how it can broaden the perspectives on participation and sustainability assessment in the university context. Embedded in a cross-sectional qualitative research design, the model was developed in iterative stages and was presented and adjusted along six feedback loops, having been presented to 98 persons during conferences, workshops and university meetings. Inspired by biophilic ideas, transformative learning theories and participatory evaluation, INDICARE follows an ecocentric and integrative perspective that places the earth and its community at the centre of attention. A preliminary set of thirty indicators and practices, grouped in three categories of context, process, and transformation, is proposed. The assessment process itself is considered as a thought-provoking exercise rather than as a control tool and emphasizes the interplay of personal reflection and action-oriented outreach. INDICARE intends to invigorate the sustainability debate in higher education, in particular by proposing a more holistic approach to assessment that underlines experiencing the interconnectedness of human-nature relationships, combined with reflective exercises that can respond better to the call for transformation on individual and institutional level.

In many parts of the humid Tropics, slash and burn shifting cultivation, incorporating a fallow phase, is the most common farming method, encompassing a broad diversity of techniques. The ecological productivity and sustainability of such systems depend upon the crop:fallow time ratio. Farmers often have biophysical criteria by which to match parcels to cropping systems and decide, for example, when to recultivate a fallow. In this paper, we collate reports of indicators used by farmers to aid in fallow choice from across the agronomic, forestry, ecological, and anthropological literature. We found 27 examples of farmers using such biophysical indicators. Examples found were from eight countries across West and Central Africa. The literature review showed that farmers rank fallow age usually first, followed by vegetation composition, the presence of indicator plants, and earthworm casts. 53 indicator plant species were identified across the region of which 37 were said to indicate soil fertility, 13 soil infertility and 3 either fertility or infertility, depending on their growth characteristics. The most exhaustive lists of indicator plants were reported from southern Cameroon, the Ashante region of Ghana and south west Nigeria. Chromolaena odorata was the most frequently mentioned plant indicator species. The trees Triplochiton scleroxylon and Terminalia superba and the grass were each mentioned, generally as soil fertility indicators, in three areas. Other species mentioned multiple times were Aframomum sp., Andropogon gayanus, Ceiba pentandra, Milicia excelsa, Triumfetta cordifolia and Trema guineensis. Farmers in West and Central Africa have identified indicators for selecting which fallow plots to recultivate. Fallow age, vegetation composition, the presence of indicator plants, particularly C. odorata, and earthworm casts all have some logical scientific basis and farmers observations are supported by the results of scientific studies. There is a lack of documentation of farmers’ knowledge and more studies should be conducted. Such knowledge should form the foundation of any suggested interventions in farming systems in the region and provide information to farmers in communities where such knowledge is not currently applied.

In 2003, the French Guided Public Transport Safety Decree updated the current transport legislation. It gave safety missions to the Service Technique des Remontees Mecaniques et des Transports Guides (henceforth STRMTG), mainly in assessing and controlling the safety level of those systems. Since then, this national safety authority has collected national data on safety for each type of systems. And each system requires a particular follow-up, related to its specificities. The aim of the present paper is to concentrate mainly on underground systems, taking into account their specificities such as tunnels, automatic pilots, platform doors, etc. From those, a classification for the safety indicators was nationally established to identify the information needed by the STRMTG and the related means used to obtain it. The information needed by the STRMTG concerns different types of events with a classification distinguishing those, which have to be immediately reported to the national authority of safety from those, that have to be followed simply by statistics. For all of them, different elements are required to understand the circumstances of the events and their aftermath. Moreover, as there are only very few collective events, the STRMTG decided to ensure a follow-up of other indicators, which don’t generate any real incidents but could have, in other conditions: these are precursors of incidents, that also reflect the safety level of the networks. With all this information, the STRMTG constitutes a yearly report, presenting the statistics with those safety indicators and their evolution over a few years. This statistical analysis doesn’t aim at comparing networks nor at presenting a safety level classification. The aim of this is first, to have a national and anonymous view on underground events and second, to know which type of configuration is related to the biggest number of events and which aggravating factors are involved. It also gives the possibility to the STRMTG to make analyses on specific issues, to find common events between networks, and to analyse the evolution of these indicators in order to reinforce its attention on those points. This study is only made possible thanks to a number of operators, who regularly transmit all the necessary data to ensure this follow-up. Such follow-up is conducted by different means: annual reports or a national common data-base. On a daily basis, a significant amount of work was carried out with those local actors and still goes on to improve the reliability of the follow-up process. After a presentation of the methodology referred to above, we will present the results of this safety indicators’ follow-up over the period from 2012 to 2014, based on the data from and on underground networks.

This paper analyses the main factors involved in the knowledge management of different actors participating in a Chilean port community. The intangible assets participating in the creation of value of the port community, which are expressed in ideas, attitudes, perceptions, experiences, information and knowledge management, are evaluated and classified according to community members’ core competencies. Then, the current situation of public institutions and companies participating in the port community is diagnosed utilizing interviews to experts and relevant actors. The role of the intellectual, structural, and social capital is examined in relation to strategic statements present in the missions of public and private port system companies. The results of the assessment enable to identify the main critical factors in knowledge management, transference, dissemination, collaboration and team work, storage, and best practices. In particular, the Conversation System stage of the Primary Model is analyzed and evaluated, as well as its causes, by actors of the port community and experts. Initiatives fostering collective work and encouraging conversations are proposed. Some of the best practices developed by the port community to create and disseminate stakeholders’ knowledge are presented. Also, a set of knowledge management indicators and indexes is developed and presented.

Quality assurance and doctoral education have been considered priorities of the Bologna Process since the 2003 ministerial meeting in Berlin, but they have been developing on two different tracks. Doctoral education is fundamentally different from first and second cycle. Based on the ARDE Project of the European University Association, the purposes of this paper are to analyze the Romanian context and provisions regarding the quality assurance of doctoral studies for the past years and, to offer a doctoral candidates’ perspective on what should be the indicators that the quality assurance of doctoral studies should take into account.

By linking iterative learning and knowledge generation with power-sharing, adaptive co-management (ACM) provides a potential solution to resolving complex social-ecological problems. In this paper we evaluate ACM as a mechanism for resolving conservation conflict using a case study in Scotland, where seal and salmon fishery stakeholders have opposing and entrenched objectives. ACM emerged in 2002, successfully resolving this long-standing conflict. Applying evaluation approaches from the literature, in 2011 we interviewed stakeholders to characterise the evolution of ACM, and factors associated with its success over 10 years. In common with other ACM cases, triggers for the process were shifts in slow variables controlling the system (seal and salmon abundance, public perceptions of seal shooting), and exogenous shocks (changes in legal mandates, a seal disease outbreak). Also typical of ACM, three phases of evolution were evident: emerging local leadership preparing the system for change, a policy window of opportunity, and stakeholder partnerships building the resilience of the system. Parameters maintaining ACM were legal mechanisms and structures, legal power held by government, and the willingness of all stakeholders to reach a compromise and experiment with an alternative governance approach. Results highlighted the critical role of government power and support in resolving conservation conflict, which may constrain the extent of local stakeholder-driven ACM. The evaluation also demonstrated how, following perceived success, the trajectory of ACM has shifted to a ‘stakeholder apathy’ phase, with declining leadership, knowledge exchange, stakeholder engagement, and system resilience. We discuss remedial actions required to revive the process, and the importance of long term government resourcing and alternative financing schemes for successful conflict resolution. Based on the results we present a generic indicator framework and participatory method for the longitudinal evaluation of ACM applied to conservation conflict resolution.

The paper provides a comprehensive empirical assessment of American stimulus policies aimed at renewable energy (RE) technologies. We use an indicator-based methodology to assess progress with respect to energy, environmental and socio-economic issues resulting from RE stimulus programs linked to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and review and analyze the emerging but scattered literature. Overall, our results indicate that stimulus programs have had a positive effect on the RE sector. This is despite the fact that they were originally planned to work in combination with a greenhouse gas ‘cap-and-trade’ system, which has not been implemented. From the methodological perspective, our approach is resource-intensive and our analysis highlights numerous challenges, notably related to causality and additionality. Despite these limitations, this research improves our understanding of the broad effects and impacts of RE stimulus programs.

This paper presents a set of selection criteria for identifying indicators for sustainable production of the manufacturing industry. Starting from a condensed overview of over 500 general sustainability indicators, such focussing on sustainable production are discussed, including the three dimensions of sustainability and the indicator qualities. Based on the Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) 1026 Framework and with the understanding that manufacturing industries may differ, the authors suggest to use the ABC judgement method - a semi-quantitative systematic method to prioritize indicators based on expert judgement and supporting evidences - to select core and supplemental indicators. Concise questionnaires considering sustainability targets are used and combined with a scoring system to support the decision process. The method can use either top-down indicators (i.e. on the impact level e.g. acidification, climate change) or bottom-up indicators (i.e. on inventory level e.g. energy consumption, recycling rate, volume or weight of solid waste/hazardous waste). Proof of concept of the proposed approach in a life cycle based case study are presented by three demonstration cases focusing on manufacturing sector i.e. elevator, refrigerator and welding. Based on these cases result, we conclude that this is the first step in the right direction to use the ABC method to identify the suitable impact category sets for conducting LCA studies. The three simple questions that transfer selection criteria, i.e. robustness, relevance, effectiveness, practicality and clear and easy to measure, are found operational and appropriate.

The paper is devoted to the current state and conditions of road and railway transport in the Slovak Republic, including selected indicators. Through the use of indicators analysis is identified the trend and on the basis of the trends is possible to determine the forecast of future development. Trend statement presents a key factor to successful decision-making in the future.

In the European higher education landscape, Dublin descriptors indicate that qualifications are awarded to students who have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field and can apply it in a “professional” way. In this context, “professionalism” must be interpreted as getting along in a working scenario context and this implies to manage some horizontal or generic skills. The subjects taking part of the program of a given degree focus on achieving knowledge in a given discipline. The day-to-day work in each subject is fundamentally oriented to get such knowledge, but, simultaneously, diverse horizontal competences or skills are implicitly acquired on the way. Graduate programs have to organize the activities building evidence of the achievement in acquiring such skills and competences. This adds value to the education process and helps to highlight the academic qualification. The implication is organizing the educational activity that allows developing competent persons. In this paper, we describe the horizontal competences in the Electronic Engineering degree, at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and we deal with an analysis of the current situation and the development of a working-plan. The aim is to make explicit the work on horizontal skills that is already done in an implicit way and to propose actions to better coordinate and fill the gaps in the process. A simple and illustrative example to make explicit this work by means of a typical activity is provided.

There have been recent calls for a shift to an evidence-based paradigm in environmental management, grounded in systematic monitoring and evaluation, but achieving this will be complex and difficult. Evaluating the educational components of environmental initiatives presents particular challenges, because these programs often have multiple concurrent goals and may value 'human outcomes', such as value change, which are intangible and difficult to quantify. This paper describes a fresh approach based on co-creating an entirely new values-based assessment framework with expert practitioners worldwide. We first discuss the development of a generic framework of 'Proto-Indicators' (reference criteria constituting prototypes for measurable indicators), and then demonstrate its application within a reforestation project in Mexico where indicators and assessment tools were localized to enhance context-relevance. Rigorously derived using unitary validity, with an emphasis on relevance, practicability and logical consistency from user perspectives, this framework represents a step-wise advance in the evaluation of non-formal EE/ESD programs. This article also highlights three important principles with broader implications for evaluation, valuation and assessment processes within environmental management: namely peer-elicitation, localizability, and an explicit focus on ethical values. We discuss these principles in relation to the development of sustainability indicators at local and global levels, especially in relation to post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

The objective of this paper was to assess the environmental performance of the production of six types of dairy products/pasteurized and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, yoghurt, cream, butter and cheese/from seven dairy plants of different capacities processing 36% of raw milk in Serbia. A total of 29 life cycle assessment calculations have been performed to identify and quantify the environmental impacts from a cradle-to-grave perspective covering three subsystems: ‘dairy farm’, ‘dairy plant’ and ‘waste and waste water treatment’. Structured surveys in selected dairies have been conducted in order to collect life cycle inventory input data. Six environmental impact potentials were calculated in this study: global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion, photochemical smog and human toxicity. The focus of the research was put on global warming potential, acidification potential and eutrophication potential. As a general finding, this study confirmed previous research that the largest contributor to the environmental profile is the raw milk production at dairy farms. Contributions of the dairy processing plants are mainly due to energy requirement and inputs of goods at the dairy gate. Mitigation options for optimization of environmental impacts rely on the choice of the production/packaging portfolio, energy fuel profile, water optimization and waste management.

One of the key challenges for ecosystem services research is to develop a comprehensive methodological approach in which biophysical, socio-cultural and monetary value-domains can be explicitly considered and integrated into decision making processes. This paper operationalizes a methodological approach for ecosystem service assessment on the basis of value pluralism. We assessed eleven ecosystem services delivered in the Donana social–ecological system (SW Spain). We found that different ecosystem service trade-offs came into view depending the value-domain in which services were assessed. The use of different valuation methods uncovers the fact that methods to elicit value actually shape and define the values being elicited. In this context, the prevalence of biophysical and monetary value-domains in scientific literature entails two main concerns: (1) the ecosystem service concept reflect in a limited extent the concerns of their beneficiaries, and (2) ecosystem service assessment results are biased towards the information provided by markets at the expense of other value-articulating institutions. Recognizing the role of ecosystem service assessment methods as value-articulating institutions, we call for a methodological framework able to contemplate the multidimensional nature of ecosystem services.

This paper presents a comparative study between two systems for production of thermal energy for heating and hot water for a residential building. The first system using non-conventional energy sources (proposed and analyzed) and the second system using current sources of energy. To accurately assess the performance of a hybrid system providing heat and hot water requires some assumptions about the consumption of heat and domestic hot water, taking into account the climate zones of the target location, intensity of solar radiation for these areas and energy price.