ABSTRACT
New indicators are being heralded as key tools for moving us along a sustainable development path. The adage 'if people want it to count, count it' has underpinned the drive to construct ever-more detailed mechanisms for measuring environmental, social and economic processes and outcomes, and their relationship. Economic indicators only came fully of age with the standardisation of the system of national accounts in 1947 and the widespread adoption of Gross National Product as the headline indicator of economic progress. A good example is the Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) compiled by a number of US and European research organisations. The ISEW has resonated strongly with growing concerns about the gap between economic prosperity and the 'quality of life' experienced by citizens of the richest nations on earth. Both the run-up to and follow-through to the Earth Summit in 1992 precipitated an enormous effort in the development of international, national and local environmental indicators.
