SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT FOR LOCAL LAND USES

The number of Sustainable Development Indicator (SDI) programmes has p roliferated since the 1992 United Nations Rio Earth Summit, with indic ators selected according to the particular purpose of evaluation. Howe ver, there has not yet been a comprehensive and simple SDI set that ca n be readily and quickly applied to land-use operations by the operato rs themselves to determine the extent of their progress towards sustai nable development. Such a method is proposed in the following paper, b ased on the general principles of sustainable development endorsed at the Rio Summit and recommendations from the literature. Preliminary te sting has been undertaken on several case studies and further refineme nt of the method is ongoing.