Indicators of Sustainability - Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems - page 310

participatory action research setting, the farm commu-
nity is a partner in selecting the galaxy of indicators
that are of greatest concern or most interest for the
comparison. The results are highly variable in terms of
which factors are chosen to make the multiple axes, but
this method enables a simple, yet comprehensive com-
parison of the systems being evaluated.
The most advanced, and probably the most complex
analysis of indicators of agroecosystem sustainability is
the one developed by Giampietro (2004). He employs
all of the methodologies described throughout this chap-
ter, and then some, to create what he calls Multi-Scale
Integrated Analysis. This methodology applies complex
system theory, integrates diverse components that cut
across the ecological and social realms, and takes into
account change through time over different scales. The
results are layered with multiple scales of uncertainty,
change, location, and cultural preference. Overall, this
methodology calls attention to the need to move beyond
the reductionist tendency of looking at single factors
affecting sustainability.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

1. In the context of sustainability, what are the

differences between the concepts of ecosystem
persistence (or resistance) and ecosystem
resilience?

2. Describe a characteristic or component of a tra-

ditional farming system that would find wide-
spread application in conventional farming
systems if sustainability were a primary goal.

3. How might cultural preferences for different

kinds of foods affect the choice of appropriate
indicators of sustainability?

4. Describe how, as an agroecosystem moves

toward sustainability, some components might
stay the same while others might change.

5. What is the role of the consumer as an indicator

of sustainability?

6. Why are ecological indicators generally easier

to measure than social indicators?

INTERNET RESOURCES

M OVING TO A L ARGER C ONTEXT

International Institute for Sustainable Develop-
ment, Measurement and Assessment Initiative
www.iisd.org/measure
A very useful website on sustainability indica-
tors in the social, economic and ecological
realms. The objective of the Measurement
and Assessment initiative is to facilitate the
development of robust sets of indicators for
public- and private-sector decision makers
to measure progress toward sustainable
development and to build an international
consensus to promote their systematic use in
assessment, reporting, and planning.

An agroecological approach is more than just ecology
applied to agriculture. It needs to take on a cultural per-
spective as it expands to include humans and their impacts
on agricultural environments. Agricultural systems
develop as a result of the coevolution that occurs between
culture and environment, and a truly sustainable agricul-
ture values the human as well as the ecological compo-
nents, and the interdependence that can develop between
the two.
One of the weaknesses of conventional agricultural
research is the way in which the narrowness of its focus
on production problems has ignored the social and
economic impacts of agricultural modernization. Agro-
ecological research cannot make the same mistake.
In addition to paying greater attention to the ecological
foundation upon which agriculture ultimately depends,
agroecological research must understand agriculture
within its social context. Understanding agroecosys-
tems as social-ecological systems will permit the
evaluation of such qualities of agroecosystems as the
long-term effects of different input/output strategies,
the importance of the human element to production, and
the relationship between economic and ecological com-
ponents of sustainable agroecosystem management.
Ultimately, sustainability is a whole-system, interdisci-
plinary concept, the highest-order emergent quality of
an agroecosystem.

International Sustainability Indicators Network
www.sustainabilityindicators.org
A member-driven organization that provides
people working on sustainability indicators
with a method of communicating with and
learning from each other.

Scientific Committee on Problems of the
Environment
www.icsu-scope.org
An interdisciplinary group of social and natural
scientists addressing current environmental
programs, including the development and
use of social and ecological indicators.