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Sustainability is a term used to support, endure, and maintain. Sustainable development is that which meets our present needs without compromising the needs of future generations. It represents a multifaceted approach to managing our environmental, economic, and social resources for the long term. The biggest challenge in evaluating sustainability strategies is lack of sufficient understanding and clear vision of the interdependencies of economic, social, and environmental aspects. However, most researchers agree that evaluation of sustainability strategies within plans, legislations, policies, and projects is essential for a sound, all-inclusive, and informed decision-making process. Evaluation of sustainable strategies needs to broaden its scope to incorporate interrelations and interdependencies of the three realms. It should also attempt to look at the synergistic and cumulative impacts of management practices to provide guidelines on a comprehensive level that will assure better clarity, transparency, and accountability in decision making. This chapter introduces the reader to the concept of sustainability and sustainable development. It also presents evaluation of sustainable strategies with a water perspective. Topics include Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Integrated Assessment, Decision-Aiding Techniques for Evaluation of Sustainability Strategies, and Multi-Component Analysis (Weighted Summation, Concordance/Discordance Analysis, Planning Balance Sheet (PBS) and Goals-Achievement Matrix (GAM)). |
