ABSTRACT
The stocks framework serves to render visible long-term trends in nature and society in order to articulate possible ways of shaping sustainability policy. The key features of this framework were presented in Chapters 3 to 8. Two case studies were then used to show how it can be used to analyse specific policy fields in terms of their sustainability. The aim of the present chapter is to show how important the stocks framework can be when used by decision makers in politics and administration and, even more so, by their (academic) advisers, to reach a precise definition of a sustainability problem and to identify potential options for action. The stocks framework is used as a basis to develop a heuristic (cf. Section 7.6.2) that enables the individuals involved to structure their knowledge of the policy field and associated problems in a clear way and to focus it on the decisions that need to be taken.
