Components of Sustainability Assessment

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actors learn constantly from the formal and informal evaluation of policies they are engaged in and are led to modify their positions on the basis of the information they collect and the knowledge they generate in this process. The lessons managers draw from evaluations, based on both objective facts and subjective interpretations of the facts, leading to conclusions about both the means and the objectives of different components of policy and are an essential component for the improvement of policy sustainability. The evaluation of resource policy has to consider certain social as well as economic criteria for sustainable options (GOB, 1995). Accommodating such criteria in policy evaluation requires comprehensive assessment of the sustainability climates of preexisting policies (OECD, 1984), which need to integrate information from trade, market, communication, biodiversity, and participation at local, national, regional, and global levels. As a result, sustainability assessment may appear as different components of policy evaluation. The following sections explain important components of policy evaluation related to sustainability.

6.2 SOCIAL ADEQUACY

Social adequacy of policy is considered as the judgment about policy competence or ability to meet the requirements of social aspiration and task-oriented demands of society for day-to-day business. Social adequacy of policy is more than social acceptability. A policy acceptable to society may not be adequate for sustainability. Some components of policies, like very fundamental traditions, may not be suitable for running under the given circumstances of other global and environmental situations of the time. Social adequacy involves human judgment as well as social capacity. Therefore, the uncertainty in policy sustainability due to social inadequacy could come from human beings as social elements and the capability of society to accommodate policy requirements.

In this regard, it can be mentioned that a sustainable policy designed for a developed country may not be socially adequate for a developing country, because the developing country may have a shortage of technological or trained personnel to meet the requirements of the policy. Social adequacy factors of policy and their implementation are generally considered as the background force for sustainability of a specific resource use type evolved from and within the society. Social

inadequacy may result from an imbalance in either policy formulation or its implementation as a socially acceptable process. Perhaps, some of the most efficient policies in the developing countries are defective in their implementation due to lack of social adequacy (e.g., policies contradicting with social tradition).

6.3 SCIENTIFIC ADEQUACY

Scientific adequacy in relation to policy sustainability means that the arrangement or instruments incorporated in a policy are able to predict accurately and meet the future requirement of policy. Because policies are made for future actions, scientific adequacy of a policy denotes the progressive dynamism and flexibility incorporated within the policy to accommodate evolving processes of science and society. They are important components for policy sustainability. When policy factors are socially adequate for sustainability reasons, the information of those policy factors should also be scientifically adequate. For example, rates of land use change are often directly related to rates of population growth. However, increase in economic development generally diminishes land use locally (Houghton, 1994).

This signifies that knowledge from one type of science alone is not enough to judge the trends of a policy outcome. It requires motivation from political, social, and economic sciences consistent with long-term sustainability. The innovation of gene technology for improving growth and yield may be an excellent opportunity for supporting sustainability and is scientifically adequate. However, if the society itself is not in receptive mood, i.e., if the education and technological standard are not up to the standard for creating a provision for technological innovation, the policy measures may not bring a fruitful result. Conversely, we may say an event or issue which is scientifically adequate to create sustainability will have no meaning in policy sustainability if it is not acceptable to society. In fact, the actors will resist those events, though scientific, being included in social policy. For example, adopting the Kyoto protocol of climate policy is scientifically adequate to create environmental sustainability, however, for market economies of some developed countries like the USA the protocol is not desirable to society, at least a powerful component of the society, therefore, it has not been included in social policy.

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6.4 STATUS QUO

Status quo determines the existing situation of society or nation. Status quo of a policy often means noninnovative and nondynamic situation, therefore, could have a negative impression on sustainability. However, status quo situations are often used for conservation purposes, which is usually considered mandatory for sustainability. In practice, the status quo situation is a third dimension that prevents damaging forces to work on social/resource elements for maintaining an existing adequacy. Along with social and scientific adequacy, sustainability consideration of factors of resource policy thereby depends on how the status quo situation of socioeconomic and sociopolitical changes are addressed.

Addressing the status quo situation of a policy involves many social issues such as sustenance, security, progress, equity, polity, and polarization. These issues have local, national, regional, and even global dimensions. But in a modern state, different issues are addressed by different policies. For example, in Bangladesh, about 56 acts have clauses related to management of the environment (Ali, 1997). Thus addressing/evaluating a single policy will not be adequate for maintaining the status quo in environmental policy. Similarly, trade or military policies might have linkages with the resource policy all of which need to be addressed for managing a status quo situation in sustainability. Thus, irrespective of social and scientific adequacy, evaluation of status quo addresses many issues and signifies the total set up of a policy within the society.

6.5 POLICY PROCESS

Policy process can be considered as social elements involving several stages like formulation, implementation, and modification or monitoring. In each of the stages, there are actors having different roles such as policy formulator, implementer, and players. They remain engaged with policy operations and modifications that determine policy adequacy and acceptability. When we say policy processes, we mean the continuous influences of actor activities at different levels related to policy metamorphosis. Thereby, it is plausible to assume that policy processes are prerogative activities of actors and hence policy sustainability largely depends on the coherence and sincerity of actor activities.