Testing for sustainable development through environmental assessment

The potential of environmental assessment as a sustainability instrument has long been recognized, but the criteria against which development proposals traditionally are judged are not necessarily criteria for sustainable development. Meanwhile, Agenda 21 identified the need for indicators of sustainable development for use in decision-making, but those that have been developed are not easy to apply in project level environmental assessment. These problems are addressed by returning to the fundamental principles of sustainable development and relating them to the principles of environmental assessment. In this way, 18 criteria have been derived, all of which must be satisfied if a development proposal is to be classified as sustainable development. These criteria have been tested against a number of actual environmental assessments to identify the likely consequences for project approval.