Model of Sustainable Development Measurement: A Case Study in Ciamis Regency, Indonesia
Introduction π
Hello! My name is Fajar Hidayah, a research enthusiast. I am currently adding to my research portfolio. I hope the article can help in providing insight. Hope you enjoy this!
Overview π
This research was conducted when I was still studying in the development economics undergraduate program. This research aims to determine the status of sustainable development in the Ciamis Regency, Indonesia. Indicators of sustainable development are divided into social, environmental, and economic. This research designs a model to obtain a composite sustainable development index. This research includes descriptive quantitative research using the Composite Sustainable Development Index (ICSD) method with primary and secondary data types. Primary data was obtained from 33 respondents from the government, universities, and the private sector in the form of expert perception assessment through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. Secondary data is obtained from government statistics on each social, environmental, and economic data.
Background π¬
Development that does not consider the capacity of natural resources and the environment can cause problems in the future. Sustainable development requires a balance between the social, environmental, and economic. Several studies analyzing the achievements of sustainable development have not produced mutually agreed indicators, especially a clear measurement status down to the district or city level.
About Ciamis Regency
This research was conducted in Ciamis Regency because it is a relatively underdeveloped region. This area cannot continue to rely on the business-as-usual system, especially in achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals. Based on data from the 2019β2024 Ciamis Regency RPJMD, land use is dominated by forests with an area of 50,485.54 ha or 31.60% of the total area of the region consisting of state forest areas and community forests. There is a lot of land conversion from forest to settlement and agriculture. This land change will reduce the value of ecological benefits such as regulating water management, erosion control, reducing surface runoff, and regulating soil fertility.
Problems π
Sustainable development is a development framework that involves social, environmental, and economic harmony. However, the status of development progress as it is carried out has not been clearly measured and agreed upon. Then when the status of development is known, the policy priorities that must be carried out can also be clearly known.
Goals π―
Based on the above problems, the following are the objectives of this study:
- Knowing the status of sustainable development.
- Knowing the priority of sustainable development policies that must be carried out.
Research Methods π¬
The objects examined in this research are social, environmental, and economic, which I refer to as the dimensions of development. Then, each dimension has derivatives that I refer to as indicators. The source of determining each indicator comes from several studies that are in accordance with the concept of regional development as follows.
Composite Sustainable Development Index (ICSD) Method
This alternative analytical tool is used to assess sustainable development which uses non-monetary units of measurement. This research organizes the assessment of the level of sustainability in regional development based on social, environmental, and economic conditions. Of all the methods that focus on multi-dimensional concepts, only a few use composite index models. The integration of indicators in determining relevant sustainable development can be useful for decision-makers.
Indicators Assessment and Grouping Indicators
At this stage, each selected indicator is categorized into social, environmental, and economic dimensions according to the key aspects of sustainability. Then, the indicators are classified into positive and negative indicators. Positive indicators, when their value increases, will have a positive influence on the sustainability of development and vice versa. For example, when emissions increase, it has a negative effect on the environment, while when forest area increases, it has a positive effect on the environment. If want to see the results of the assessment of indicators, please click here.
Indicators Normalization
This stage aims to generalize the unit of measurement of each indicator according to the characteristics of its influence, then it can be compared. If you want to see the formula and calculation results, you can click here.
Indicators Weighting
The weighting stage uses a pair-wise comparison approach. The pair-wise comparison technique is part of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. This technique uses a pair-wise comparison matrix as a generator of relative weights between criteria. This comparison shows the level of importance between criteria. The process of compiling the matrix by considering the comparative judgement in the table below.
The results of the weighting matrix and consistency ratio formula, you can click here.
Calculation on Each Dimension
The results of the value of each indicator that has been weighted in each dimension are calculated to produce a total value for each dimension (social, environmental, and economic). For the calculation formula of each dimension and the results, please click here.
Composite Index Calculation
The final step is to combine the values of each dimension into a composite index. The greater the value of the resulting composite index, the greater the improvement of development. The composite index results with a scale value of 0 to 1 are classified into three categories of sustainability status in the figure below. This classification is useful for interpreting the final results for policy-making purposes. The result of a composite index can click here.
Result and Interpretation π
Social sustainability focuses on the human and social welfare aspects of development. Good social conditions are essential as they are linked to long-term development success. Although different from the actual situation, even a standardized set of social indicators for development has not been specifically studied.
The environmental dimension of sustainability focuses on the impact of development on nature and the environment. Environmental conditions are a very important aspect because the conditions for successful development go hand in hand with environmental preservation. At the regional scale, the availability of natural and environmental data such as carbon emissions and waste is a particular challenge in research development.
The economic dimension of sustainability focuses on the impact of development on the economic condition of the economic conditions of the region. The system economic system used is usually only focused on increasing trend achievements. From the conventional perspective, it is very important to continue.
There are 5 social indicators, 3 environmental indicators, and 4 economic indicators that have been calculated into a composite index for the period 2015 to 2020 as shown in the figure above. The higher the composite index, the greater the improvement of regional development toward sustainability. The achievement of sustainable development in the form of a composite index is in the less sustainable category because it is less than an index of 0.40. The development conditions that occurred were relatively low for 6 years. This means that sustainable development in Ciamis Regency has not been able to overcome the problems of social, environmental, and economic aspects that occur. The value of each social, environmental, and economic sub-index is also in the low sustainability category (index β€ 0.40).
Basically, the policies that must be decided in achieving sustainable development cover all dimensions with their derivative indicators, due to their low status. However, the policy priorities of each dimension that need to be accelerated are as follows.
- Population growth and poverty indicators in the social dimension
- Land cover quality index indicators that represent aspects of forest area and vegetation, soil cover, river/lake boundaries, and habitat conditions in the environmental dimension.
- Indicators of regional economic growth rate in the economic dimension.
The purpose of the composite index is to provide a simple overview of the composition of several different and complex indicators. The index can reflect the status of regional development, information publication, or database as a benchmark for the government to work towards achieving development targets.
Conclusions π
As a result of the case study, the model is feasible to try and apply to the local development level. Although no measurement tool for complex phenomena can be perfect, this model can be a useful measurement tool to assess the status and performance of regional development sustainability. The status of development sustainability in Ciamis Regency shows low sustainability, both the overall composite index value and the indicators in each dimension. However, policy priority improvements that can be taken are to focus on population growth, poverty, land cover quality, and regional economic growth.
Suggestion and Evaluation π
As a follow-up to this research project, there are some suggestions and evaluations below.
- The Government of Ciamis Regency needs to have a development performance report with KPIs that can be accessible to the public especially civil society.
- Entrepreneurs can apply this method to assess company performance because it is multidimensional, especially with regard to business models and markets.
- This research has the limitation that there is no software measurement tool during the data calculation stage.
- Unavailability of environmental data on carbon emission levels, biodiversity loss, and disaster damage levels at the regional level.
- Other multi-dimensional methods can be used to find the sustainability condition of a case or phenomenon with RAPFISH analysis, FLAG approach, or DEA.
References π
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