Environmental sustainability for urban areas: The role of natural capital indicators

The concept of sustainability typically encompasses social, economic, political and environmental components. This paper focuses on the measurement of factors that help predict whether a region is moving toward or away from environmentally sustainable paths. Examples of natural capital are provided along with the rationales for using a natural capital approach. Indicators assist in the assessment of conditions and trends, facilitate informed discussion among diverse groups within the community, provide input into the policy process, and help communities identify important tradeoffs they may face in all sorts of decisions that affect sustainability, including land use, transportation infrastructure and fiscal policies.