DEPARTMENT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

                                                      21 April 2004

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS IN YOUR POCKET 2004

A free pocket-sized booklet, presenting a selection of around 50 of the UK Government's indicators of sustainable development is published today.

Indicators in the booklet have been selected from the UK Government's 15 headline indicators and an updated core set of 132 indicators of sustainable development, Quality of life counts, which were published on the Government's sustainable development website on 16 March.

The aim of this booklet is to provide an easily accessible set of indicators covering a number of key sustainable development themes. It includes a variety of economic, social and environmental issues of everyday concern including health, housing, jobs crime, education and our environment.

It is hope this handy-sized publication will be a useful reference to experts but also to others less familiar with the concept of sustainable development or indicators.

The selected indicators should not be regarded as a top 50. Their selection was simply to try to meet the modest aims of providing some easy reference material and to help raise awareness and understanding.

The booklet is also intended to provide background material for   Taking it on: consultation to develop new UK sustainable development strategy, which is launched today. The consultation seeks views on what should be in a new strategy for sustainable development for the UK , and what the Government and others need to do make it happen. It includes questions on how progress towards sustainable development should be monitored in the future.

Sustainable development indicators in your pocket 2004 includes all 15 of the UK Government's headline indicators covering economic growth; investment; employment; education; poverty; health; crime; housing quality; climate change; air and water quality; traffic; land use; wildlife; and waste.  Examples of the wider indicators that are included are:

Environmental impacts of households - between 1990 and 2001 household numbers increased by 9 per cent, while household waste increased by 26 per cent and household water decreased by 8 per cent.

Freight transport by mode - In 2001, 64 per cent of freight was by road, whilst the proportion moved by rail has fallen to 8 per cent.

Depletion of fossil fuels - estimated oil and gas reserves have both dropped by about one quarter since 1998

Native species at risk - in 2003, 16 per cent of mammals and birds and 16 per cent of reptiles, amphibians and freshwater fish were regarded as 'threatened'.

Impacts of the industrial sector - since 1970, output from the industrial sector has risen by almost 50 per cent, while its energy use, water use, CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions have all fallen.

People finding access difficult - of those disabled people who said they had difficulties accessing goods and services, 27 per cent had difficulties getting to places, 19 per cent had difficulties getting around once there and 15 per cent had difficulties getting into places.

Although this is a new compendium of the indicators, many of them are based on others already used across Government, and so have been reported  elsewhere.  Most of the data behind the indicators are from published National Statistics sources from across Government.  In some other cases the data are from non-governmental organisations.

Notes

1. The booklet is available free of charge. Further copies can be obtained from Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London , SW1A 2XX (Tel: 08459 556000, Fax: 020 8957 5012, email: defra@iforcegroup.com). Product code PB9541. A large print version is also available on request.

2. Sustainable development indicators in your pocket is also available on the sustainable development website www.sustainable-development.gov.uk, along with the wider Quality of life counts - update 2004

3. The Government's 15 headline indicators are a 'quality of life barometer' measuring people's everyday concerns like housing development, health, jobs, air quality, educational achievement, wildlife and economic prosperity. They are intended to focus public attention on what sustainable development means and to give a broad overview of whether we are "achieving a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come".

(22/4/04)