Dynamic analysis and assessment for sustainable development

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Shi, Xiao-qing

Affiliations: Department of Systems Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100085, China. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The assessment of sustainable development is crucial for constituting sustainable development strategies. Assessment methods that exist so far usually only use an indicator system for making sustainable judgement. These indicators rarely reflect dynamic characteristics. However, sustainable development is influenced by changes in the social-economic system and in the eco-environmental system at different times. Besides the spatial character, sustainable development has a temporal character that can not be neglected; therefore the research system should also be dynamic. This paper focuses on this dynamic trait, so that the assessment results obtained provide more information for judgements in decision-making processes. Firstly the dynamic characteristics of sustainable development are analyzed, which point to a track of sustainable development that is an upward undulating curve. According to the dynamic character and the development rules of a social, economic and ecological system, a flexible assessment approach that is based on tendency analysis, restrictive conditions and a feedback system is then proposed for sustainable development.

Keywords: sustainable development, assessment, dynamic analysis

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 88-94, 2002