Measuring environmental sustainability of a country : application of the ESGAP framework in Colombia and South Africa

Public actors need to monitor the state of the environment in order to assess the effectiveness of their actions, prioritize policies and management measures, and objectively determine their contribution to the conservation of natural capital.

ESGAP (Environmental Sustainability Gap) is an innovative tool that assesses the state of an area's environmental services and their level of sustainability. For all critical components of natural capital in the area concerned (air or water quality, pollution, forest or fishery resources, etc.), this indicator calculates the gap between their current state and a state that would be sustainable. This makes it possible to calculate an 'environmental sustainability gap', which indicates the distance that needs to be covered to reach the state of environmental sustainability and can then be used as a guide for public policy. This framework has been applied in Colombia and South Africa.

Within the framework of the ECOPRONAT research programme, the AFD wishes to develop strong sustainability assessment methodologies, i.e. the adoption of demanding criteria regarding the non-substitutability of natural capital with other forms of capital in a country.

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