Quality of Life

The Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) asked IIASA to provide scientific support to the conference by examining the usefulness of systems analysis in: (1) identifying some of the important linkages among population, development and the environment and; (2) in helping decisionmakers in formulating and implementing policies for sustainable development. Part of the work of the resulting Environment and Development Study involved the formulation of conceptual models describing the socio-ecological system in which we live. Quality of Life was a central component of these models; it was concluded that the aim of development was: (i) to enhance the quality of people's lives, considering both material and nonmaterial factors and; (ii) to lessen disparities across social groups, regions and generations

Sustainable Development: A Systems Approach

This Status Report summarizes the final report of the IIASA Environment and Development Study which was submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in December 1991. As a systems analysis institute, IIASA was asked by UNCED in mid-1990 to explore the usefulness of systems analysis in: identifying some of the important linkages among population, environment, and development; examining some of the underlying causes of environmentally unsustainable development; and in formulating and implementing policies for more sustainable development. The work first involved the formulation of conceptual models of the socio-ecological system in which we live. The application of systems analysis to environment and development was then examined in several case studies. The case studies, based mainly upon past and present work carried out here at IIASA, indicated that systems analysis is potentially very useful in helping us towards a sustainable future. However, the work that is described in the report gives only a few examples of what could be done in the years following UNCED

Sustainability Science

Meeting fundamental human needs while preserving earth's life support systems will require an accelerated transition toward sustainability. A new field of sustainability science is emerging that seeks to understand the fundamental character of interactions between nature and society and to encourage the interactions along more sustainable trajectories. Such an integrated, place-based science will require new research strategies and institutional innovations to enable them especially in developing countries still separated by deepening divides from mainstream science. Sustainability science needs to be widely discussed in the scientific community, reconnected to the political agenda for sustainable development, and become a major focus for research