PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN THE GREAT-LAKES BASIN

Sustainable development has become the conceptual framework within whi ch societal, economic and environmental issues are addressed at every level around the world. In 1993, a United States-Canada assembly of mo re than 250 Great Lakes leaders was convened to evaluate the efficacy of creative processes under way in the Great Lakes Basin relative to s ustainable development and to identify key success factors and process characteristics which are consistent with principles of sustainable d evelopment. A combination of eight criteria for effective project mana gement (i.e. stakeholder involvement; leadership; information and inte rpretation; planning; human resource development; results and indicato rs; review and feedback; stakeholder satisfaction) and six principles of sustainable development (i.e. long-range planning and intergenerati onal responsibility; carrying capacity; anticipation and prevention; f ull cost accounting; integration of economic, social and environmental factors; efficiency, innovation and continuous improvement) were deve loped to evaluate and help improve decisionmaking processes. Such crit eria and principles may be useful in improving decisionmaking processe s in other parts of the world.