RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF EARTH SCIENCES VOL. 9, ES2003, doi:10.2205/2007ES000273, 2007
[5] A fundamental assignment in embodying the concept of sustainable development is the formation of a standard of measures (indices and indicators) for reasonable quantitative and qualitative assessments of this very complicated process. The main requirements of the specified measures (gauging matrix) are their information "completeness" and the adequate representation of the interconnected triad of sustainable development components. Well known international organizations and numerous scientists are working in this direction, but the unequivocal coordination of these efforts has not been yet achieved.
[6] To meet this concept it is necessary to introduce a gauging matrix of sustainable development. The following sustainable development gauging matrix (SDGM) is proposed by the Institute for Applied System Analysis of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
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Figure 1 |
[8] This index is determined by three dimensions: economic ( Iec ), ecological ( Ie ) and social ( Is). Respectively, each of the indices ( Iec ), ( Ie ), ( Is ) is calculated by six global indices widely used in international practice (Table 1).
[9] An index of economic dimension (Iec) shall be generated from two global indices: Growth (Global) Competitiveness Index (further - an index of competitiveness - Ic ), which was developed by the organizers of World Economic Forum. This index is annually defined for 117 economies of the world and published in the form of so-called "the Global Competitiveness Report". The report for 2005-2006 (http://www.weforum.org) was used for this paper. The index of competitiveness is comprised of three such indicators: the indicator of technological development of a country; the indicator of civil institutes and the indicator for the macroeconomic environment. In turn, these three indicators are calculated on the basis of 47 data sets including the conditions for technologies transfers and the innovational potential of a country, the level of development in information and communication technologies, the level of investment for research and development, the level of foreign direct investments, the level of government non-interference in business, the level of a country's perceived corruption, and others.
[10] Economic Freedom Index ( Ief ), developed by the intellectual center of the Heritage Foundation (http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index). It is printed annually in the Wall Street Journal. The Economic Freedom Index is formed with the following ten indicators: the trade policy of country, the fiscal load on the part of government, governmental intervention in the economy, monetary policy, streams of capital and foreign investment, banking and financial activity, the policy of shaping prices and payments, the right to private property, a policy of regulation, and the informal activity of the market. These ten indicators are composed using fifty sets of economic, financial, legislative and administrative data.
[11] Index of ecological dimension (Ie) is generated on the basis of the well known Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) designed by the Center of Ecological Legislation and Policy of Yale University (USA) for 146 countries of the world (http://www.yale.edu/esi). The ESI is generated from 21 ecological indicators which, in turn, are defined by the use of 76 sets of ecological data, the level of environmental pollution in the past and presently, efforts of a country in the management of its ecological conditions, the ability of a country to improve ecological its characteristics and others.
[12] The ESI quantitatively defines the ability of any country to protect the environment both currently, and in the long-term, emerging from five criteria: the availability of a national ecological system; the ability to counteract ecological influences; the reduction of people's dependence on ecological influences; the social capabilities of a country to meet ecological challenges; the possibility to exercise global control over the ecological condition of a country. Additionally, this index may be used as a powerful tool for decision-making at an analytical level with an allowance for the social and economic measurements of sustainable development in a country.
[13] An index of social dimension (Is) is generated by averaging three global indexes:
[14] Quality of Life Index ( Iq ), is developed by the international organization, the Economist Intelligence Unit (http://www.en.wikipedia.org). This index is formed with the help of the following nine indicators: the gross national product per capita calculated by the parity of purchasing capacity; the average life expectancy of the population of country; the rating for political stability and safety in a country; the quantity of the divorced families per 1000/population; the level of public activism (the activity of trade unions, public organizations etc.); the distinctions between the geographical divide given warmer and colder regions of a country; the rate of unemployment in a country; the level of political and civil freedom in a country; a ratio of an average salary of men compared to women;
[15] Human Development Index ( Ihd ) which is used by the United Nations Development Program (http://www.undp.org/annualreports/2005/english/). It is formed on the basis of the following three indicators: the average life expectancy of the population of a country; the level of education; the standard of life of the population of a country which is measured by gross national product per capita calculated by the parity of purchasing capacity;
[16] Index of Knowledge Societies, or K - societies ( Iks ), was developed by the department of the United Nations on Economic and Social affairs - UNDESA (UN publication no. E.04. II.C.1, 2005). This index is defined by three basic indicators: the assets indicator; the advancement indicator and the foresightedness indicator, which in turn, are formed with the help of 15 data sets on a level of the involvement of youth in education and information, the investment climate in a country, the level of corruption, the inequality of the distribution of material and social benefits (GINI-index), the level of children's mortality rate, etc.
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Figure 2 |
[18] All data, indicators and indices which are included in the model (Figure 2) are measured in different units and have various interpretations. This is why they are reduced to the normal form in such a way that their changes and the changes of their indices themselves were in the range from 0 to 1. In this case the lowest values of the above indicators will correspond to the numerical values close to 0, and the highest - will approximate these values to 1. Such normalization allows one to calculate each of the indices Iec, Ie, Is and Isd in the form of an averaged sum of its constituents with the corresponding weighted coefficients. In turn, the weighted coefficients in the calculation formula of the sustainable development index ( Isd ) are chosen in such a way that allows one to provide the same weights of economic, ecological and social measures in this index.
[19] The SDGM can be used for various investigations of sustainable development. Let's consider some SDGM applications.
Citation: 2007), Sustainable development global simulation: Opportunities and treats to the planet, Russ. J. Earth Sci., 9, ES2003, doi:10.2205/2007ES000273.
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