Illustrating integrated sustainability and resilience based assessments

A small-scale biodiesel project in Barbados

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21153753
AutoresKyrke Gaudreau (University of Waterloo), Robert Gibson (0000-0002-2816-7289, University of Waterloo)
Ano2010
Volume28
Fascículo3
Páginas233-243
Data de publicação2010-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoImpact Assessment and Project Appraisal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1461-5517 • E-ISSN: 1471-5465
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3152/146155110x12772982841122
OpenAlexW2078847741
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas8

Assessments today need to help reverse trends towards deeper unsustainability and address the unavoidable interconnections, feedbacks and uncertainties that typify complex socio-ecological systems at all scales. To illustrate one promising approach, this paper describes a modest effort to integrate understandings from Gibson et al's approach to sustainability assessment with the Resilience Alliance's applications of complex systems thinking into a suite of systems and sustainability based criteria. The integrated sustainability-resilience criteria were used to assess an existing small-scale biodiesel operation on Barbados that involves waste management, public health, transportation, energy security and community involvement considerations. The assessment revealed that the main benefit of this biodiesel project is in social learning rather than enhancing energy security and waste management, and the best ways of enhancing the project lie in larger scale policy initiatives. The findings suggest that the use of a sustainability-resilience approach can contribute insights unlikely to emerge from more narrowly focused assessments

Alliance · Business · Economics · Energy security · Environmental economics · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Political science · Renewable energy · Suite · Sustainability · Energy and Environment Impacts · Engineering · Environmental and Social Impact Assessments · Environmental Science · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · Ecology