Land Ethic: A Different Perspective for Green Community Rating Systems.

Sustainability in India is rated through various Green Rating Systems for real estate developments, although on voluntary basis. This paper presents a scientific analysis of an Indian Rating System namely: IGBC Green Townships and two global rating systems namely: BREEAM Communities and Pearl Rating System on basis of a philosophy known as Land Ethic (LE). Coined by an American forester Aldo Leopold, LE is based on parameters like soils, waters, plants/animals or collectively: the land. This philosophy forms a roadmap to view the rating systems in terms of its intangible/non-monetary benefits related to soils, waters, plants/animals and land. The analysis involved selection of keywords which best represented LE philosophy, namely: Community, Soils, Waters, Plants/Animals, Land Health, Land Pyramid, Land Organism, Ecological Conscience, Land Use, Conservation/Preservation and Education/Awareness. Each issue/checklist listed in the selected rating systems was qualitatively evaluated in respect to the selected LE keywords. For quantitative analysis, a scoring system was formulated to give scores to each issue/checklist vis-a-vis LE keywords. Scores A represented scores for issues/efforts and Scores B represented scores for respective credit points earned by each LE keyword. Scores A and B were then used for the purpose of this study on basis of LE keywords and issues/checklist of the rating systems. A resultant matrix was formulated for the purpose of compatibility inspection of the rating systems in context to LE philosophy. Few guidelines on basis of LE philosophy were also recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]