Assessment of Sustainable Development

Cornelissen, A.M.G.; van den Berg, J.; Koops, Wiebe J.; Grossman, Michael; Udo, Henk M.J.

Assessment of Sustainable Development

ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2000-23-LIS

21 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2003

See all articles by A.M.G. Cornelissen

J. van den Berg

Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Section of ICT

Michael Grossman

University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign - Animal Science Lab

Henk M.J. Udo

Wageningen UR - Animal Sciences Group

Date Written: June 22, 2000

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to introduce fuzzy set theory and develop fuzzy mathematical models to assess sustainable development based on context-dependent economic, ecological, and societal sustainability indicators. Membership functions are at the core of fuzzy models, and define the degree to which indicators contribute to development. Although a decision-making process regarding sustainable development is subjective, fuzzy set theory links human expectations about development, expressed in linguistic propositions, to numerical data, expressed in measurements of sustainability indicators. In the future, practical implementation of such models will be based on elicitation of expert knowledge to construct a membership function. The fuzzy models developed in this paper provide a novel approach to support decisions regarding sustainable development.

Keywords: agriculture, assessment, fuzzy set theory, sustainable development

JEL Classification: R4, M, M11, C69

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cornelissen, A.M.G. and van den Berg, J. and Koops, Wiebe J. and Grossman, Michael and Udo, Henk M.J., Assessment of Sustainable Development (June 22, 2000). ERIM Report Series Reference No. ERS-2000-23-LIS. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=370824