What is striking about the initiative is that local citizens framed the assessment method and indicators, taking into account the

relevancy to the local conditions and values of the community. Along with sustainability indicators targeting the global, national, and local levels, the indicators can also be applied at the systemic level, for such systems as urban infrastructures. For example, several studies carried this website out sustainability assessment on urban water systems using a set of indicators (Butler and Parkinson 1997; Lundin et al. 1999; Mels et al. 1999; Hellström et al. 2000). It should be noted that the way in which a set of indicators are selected for application varies from one study to another, depending on the research scope, objectives, and system boundaries. It is also worth noting that most of the above studies tend to focus on the environmental sustainability of the targeted systems without specific reference to socio-economic

aspects, suggesting that the quantitative analysis of societal aspects of a system in the context of sustainability is IACS-10759 nmr rather complicated. Sustainability indicators could serve as useful guidelines for decision-making in the pursuit of a sustainable society. The Japanese government introduced

the fundamental plan for establishing a sound material-cycle society in 2003 as its Vasopressin Receptor primary strategy for promoting the Captisol ic50 decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressure (Ministry of the Environment 2003). The plan set quantitative targets based on material flow analysis indicators. The targets, which focus on the upstream, circulation, and downstream stages of the Japanese material economy from the base year of 2000, must be achieved by 2010 in the following manner: 1. Input (upstream): 40% increase in resource productivity (GDP/direct material input), approximately from 280,000 to 390,000 yen/ton.   2. Circulation: 40% increase in recycling ratios (total recycled amount/direct material input), approximately from 10 to 14%.   3. Output (downstream): 50% decrease in wastes going to final disposal sites, from 56 to 28 million tons/year.   These indicators are being monitored and evaluation of their performances has been conducted individually against such set targets. The concept of resource productivity described in the above point 1 is also reflected upon in the process of the development of the third Basic Environmental Plan by the Japanese government.