Why have regional sustainability indicators?
Sustainable regional development in a generic sense is about achieving a balance between economic development, stewardship of our natural resources and the social wellbeing of our communities. The Victorian Government has a whole of government approach to regional development. Consequently a wide range of state and local government agencies have a responsibility to meet economic, social and environmental outcomes. To date the achievement of environmental, social and, to a lesser extent, economic outcomes, has often been described on a qualitative basis, particularly at a local, regional or catchment level. Currently agencies have relatively few indicators that are being measured to see if performance targets are being reached. This approach fails to deliver a framework for decision making that clearly balances all outcomes. In short, organisations have limited ways of knowing if either individually or collectively they are achieving sustainable regional development. Because they have r
