Sustainable development indicators: food for thought or efficient tools for decision-making? Transition management and food business course. University of Helsinki, 23.4.2020

1. Sustainable
development
indicators: food for
thought or efficient
tools for decision-
making?
Jari Lyytimäki
Finnish Environment Institute
Transition management and food business course
University of Helsinki, 23.4.2020

2. What is an indicator?
Indicator
Statistics
Data
Reality of some kind
Index or composite indicator

3. What role is indicator supposed to play?
• Instrumental roles
• Direct and intentional use of indicators as basis of decision-making or evaluation
• Conceptual roles
• Indicators as tools that enhance learning and creation of shared understanding, or
‘enlightenment’, or that sensitise the user to a problem or a situation
• Indirect and long-term effects
• Symbolic roles
• Indicator is there just because of some routines or institutional requirements
• Political and ritualistic roles
• Legitimising decisions already taken or policies already in place, convincing others to
support a position, deflecting criticism
• Tactical use as a façade in order to give the impression of evidence-based policy-
making.

4. Potential unintended effects of indicators
Source: Lyytimäki et al 2014

5. Sustainable development indicators in Finland

6. History of SD indicators in Finland
• Phase I (1996–2000): large sets that measured what experts thought
relevant for sustainable development (SD).
• Phase II (2001–2008): tailoring of smaller indicator sets to be used for
specific purposes (the leaflets).
• Phase III (2009–2016): www.findicator.fi online service that included
more than just national SDIs. (Updated automatically, a Google search
optimized, timeliness and accessibility).
• Phase IV (2017–): the Findicator service needs to be renewed and the
national SDIs moved to a new location with stronger emphasis on
use.
Source: Rosenström 2018

7. Finnish SD policy model: two indicator sets
Statistics
Finland
Agenda 2030
SDGs
Other national
level indicator
sets, e.g.:
Findicator.fi
Luonnontila.fi
Sotkanet
Agricator
Society’s
Commitment to SD

8. The Finnish national SD indicator set
• Indicators consisting of
quantitative data series and
qualitative interpretations
• 10 indicator baskets, each
containing about 4 indicators
• Organised around 8 national
SD objectives
• Based on collaborative and
data-driven preparation
process
Indicator baskets
State of nature and the environment
Resource-wise economy and carbon neutral society
Consumption and public procurements
Housing and communities
Prerequisites of health
Social inequality
Social exclusion and inclusivity
Working life, quality and change
Education and development of competence
Global responsibility and policy coherence
https://kestavakehitys.fi/en/monitoring

9. Structure of indicators
• Indicators present selected quantitative
time series and qualitative
interpretations
• Indicators describe
• current situation
• comparison with target levels
• Finland’s recent development
• possible reservations related to the
indicator

10. A closer look on the
Finnish national SD
indicators related to food
Wikimedia Commons Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC-BY-SA-3.0

11. Food issues addressed under ”Consumption and
public procurements”
”Foodstuff consumption” as the main indicator:
interpretation emphasizes environmental and
health gains of plant-based diet
GHG emissions from household
consumption of food also
mentioned: note the timelag

12. Other baskets emphasize
environmental effects of
agriculture as secondary,
indirect framing of food
State of nature and the environment
Resource-wise economy and carbon neutral society

13. What about the other set?
UN-based SDG indicators

14. The internationally oriented SDG indicator set
• National indicator set based on the UN-based
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) released in Feb
2019.
• Indicators defined by ”Inter-agency and Expert Group
on SDG Indicators”
• 17 goals, 169 targets, 232 indicators defined by the
UN expert group
• Finnish version prepared by the Statistic Finland,
updated continuously, focusing on quantitative data
series
• http://www.stat.fi/tup/kestavan-kehityksen-yk-
indikaattorit-agenda2030_en.html

15. Finland is one of the leading countries…
…but the task of information collection is
demanding
• Finnish set of SDG indicators released in February
2019 showed that national data were missing for
nearly half (47%) of the indicators.
• The set prepared for the UN (VNR report, summer
2020) includes about two thirds (64%) of SDG
indicators

16. A closer look on the
Finnish SDG indicators
related to food
Wikimedia Commons Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Based on draft version of the VNR report
compiled by the Statistics Finland

17. SDG2 focuses on food issues

18. Indicator
with
good
data
coverage

19. Indicators with
some data:
Undernourishment,
genetic diversity,
export subsidies

20. Indicators
with
missing
data

21. Surprisingly poor coverage of food-related issues
by indicators elsewhere in the SDG framework
• Indicators describing food loss (SDG12), sustainable fish stocks
(SDG14) (Data missing for Finland)
Indirect links:
• Efficiency of water use (SDG6)
• Ecological footprint (SDG8, SDG12)
Worth of noting:
• Food (and agriculture) issues not mentioned in SDG13 on taking
urgent action to combat climate change or in SDG15 on protecting
terrestial ecosystems

22. To summarize: Three key indicator struggles
• Struggling with data availabily to describe
relevant issues
• Struggle between the trustworthiness
and societal salience
• Struggle between national relevance and
international comparability

23. Afterthoughts:
What makes a societally influential indicator?
Indicator factors
• What kind of content makes an indicator good
or poor?
• Importance of data quality
Process & user factors
• Through what kind of processess information is
collected, modified and communicated?
• Importance of interaction and feedback
Context factors
• What kinds of external issues are influencing?
• Importance of putting indicators into right
context

24. Thank you and further reading
• Berg A. et al. (2019). PATH2030 – An Evaluation of Finland’s Sustainable Development Policy.
Publications of the Government´s analysis, assessment and research activities 23/2019. Prime Minister’s
Office, Helsinki. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-287-655-3
• Lyytimäki J. (2019) Thermostat or thermometer? A Finnish perspective on the overloaded role of
sustainability indicators in societal transition. Sustainable Development 27(5): 817-825.
https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1941
• Lyytimäki J. (2019). Seeking SDG Indicators. Nature Sustainability 2: 646. Doi: 10.1038/s41893-019-
0346-7 https://rdcu.be/bJgyu
• Lyytimäki J. Gudmundsson H., Sørensen C. H. (2014). Russian dolls and Chinese whispers: Two
perspectives on the unintended effects of sustainability indicator communication. Sustainable
Development 22(2): 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.530
• Rosenström U. (2018). Sustainable development indicators Finland: Going from large descriptive sets to
target oriented actively used indicators. In S. Bell, & S. Morse (Eds.), Routledge handbook of
sustainability indicators (pp. 231– 238). New York: Routledge.
• Finnish Sustainable Development Indicators:
https://kestavakehitys.fi/en/monitoring
• Finnish Sustainable Development Goals indicators:
http://www.stat.fi/tup/kestavan-kehityksen-yk-indikaattorit-agenda2030_en.html
https://www.ecowelfare.fi/