Integrating Global Comparability and National Specificity in Agricultural Sustainability Indicators Through Stakeholder-Science Co-Evaluation in Austria

Abstract

Agriculture is central to sustainable development both from provisioning and pressure perspectives. It is hence imperative to measure its diverse outcomes, for which various global indicator systems have been developed. Yet, these come with trade-offs, for example, between comparability among countries versus specificity to national context. This poses the question how relevant generic indicators are for national stakeholders and how specific information requirements can be integrated within a globally comparable assessment. Herein, we present the co-evaluation of an existing system of global agricultural sustainability indicators with national stakeholders from agricultural practice, research and education, public administration, private sector, and NGOs in Austria, representing an expert community. Focusing on the relevance of the indicators and the requirements for complementary metrics, we found that particularly social themes and related indicators were highly specific to the national context, followed by economic and environmental aspects. Co-interpretation of selected indicator trajectories showed that drivers and interactions were highly complex and may change over time, emphasizing also the importance of complementary contextual information. Yet, availability of data to measure indicators proposed by stakeholders remains a key limitation to the adaptation of the indicator system. We outline two options for improving the relevance of the global indicator system: (a) substituting less relevant indicators or (b) introducing a second tier covering regionally important aspects. To explore which of the two options is most appropriate across geographies and whether unified approaches to such a regionalization are indeed feasible, we propose to include the co-creation of regionalized indicator frameworks in future iterations across agriculturally diverse countries.