1. Importance of the sector for income (value added) and employment

Determining the total value-added contributed by the sector provides a basis for calculating the dollar value of changes in the status of the sector's resources and ecological infrastructure (see below).

2. Status of the sector's resources

A sector's resources are the natural assets that it uses directly: trees in the case of the timber sector; and hydro, oil, natural gas, coal, and wood in the case of the energy sector. Two sets of data are needed: the size of the current stock; and flow data (changes in production, consumption, and the size of the stock).

3. Status of the sector's ecological infrastructure

A sector's ecological infrastructure consists of the ecological processes and biological diversity that support it: for example, soil, water, and the genetic diversity of crops and livestock in the case of the agriculture sector. For living-resource sectors (timber, fisheries and aquaculture, other harvesting, agriculture and horticulture, tourism and recreation, and some of the energy sector), measures are needed of the status of the hydrological cycle (quality, quantity and reliability of water supply); soil structure and fertility; air quality and climate; and the ecosystem, species, and within-species diversity required for long-term production. For nonliving-resource sectors (mining and most of the energy sector), measures are needed of the quality, quantity and reliability of the water supply, and on air quality and changes in the reliability of climate.

4. The sector's compatibilities and conflicts with the sustainability of other sectors

Items 2 and 3 above measure what might be called the sector's internal sustainability. We also need to assess its external sustainability - its impacts on other resource sectors, on the businesses outside the resource sectors, on human health and infrastructure, and on the integrity of the biosphere or planetary ecosystem.

5. Main socioeconomic influences on the sector's sustainability

Several factors make it easier or more difficult for a sector to be sustainable. The chief ones are:

• The ratio of benefits to a given stock of resources. One of the ways of achieving sustainability is to increase the benefits from a given stock of resources. Conversely, a decline in benefits from a stock of resources is a sign of unsustainability. Two benefits that should be looked at are jobs and total income (corporate, personal, municipal, provincial). Indicators include trends in earnings and production, the ratio of jobs and income to production, and changes in value added per unit of resource.
• The extent to which the resource users pay the full costs to society of their decisions. Indicators include the proportions of development and conservation costs paid by the industry, government, and other parties (including future generations); and the net charge (tax) paid or subsidy received by the sector, once the total amount of taxes has been subtracted from the total amount of subsidies.
• Effective participation of communities and interest groups in the decisions that most affect them. Do the communities and interests that depend on the sector have an effective say in how the sector's conservation and development are planned and managed?
• Adoption of an approach to decision making that tries to foresee and prevent problems. How well are the compatibilities and conflicts with other sectors and interests being anticipated and managed?

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