Sustainability evaluation of complex systems (Part 1): a new operational, strategic and communication tool

An innovative method that can be used to express the sustainability of a complex system was proposed by accounting for the interconnections between production systems and the environment (natural, economic and social), whereby the expression of the sustainability functions is transformed into a dimensionless scale that allows these evaluations to be added to a single final value. To this aim, three domains (environmental, territorial and social-economic), which are characterised by several functions (clusters), have been identified. The principle of the theory of risk was applied to evaluate each cluster. A matrix evaluation, based on four grades, was used for the farm functions (lacking, rare, probable, highly probable) and for the environmental, territorial and social-economic vulnerability of the farm settlement area (light, medium, heavy, very heavy), respectively. This evaluation resulted in sixteen values, which were classified into four classes: negligible; medium; relevant; very relevant. The result of the evaluation of each cluster could eventually be multiplied by a coefficient that is proportional to the importance of the expressed function or to the function that has to be boosted. The sum of the cluster evaluation leads to a Sustainability Index (SI) of the farm, expressed in four classes, and in three sub-classes for each class. In short, the method can be used as: i) a sustainability assessment tool (to measure farm sustainability); ii) a farm development tool (to increase sustainability); iii) a policy maker tool (to reach or improve the CAP objectives); iv) a communication tool (as a commercial label).