Reversibility as a sustainability criterion for project selection

SUMMARY

Integration of sustainability issues into the project selection process requires new approaches to decision-making. A framework is proposed for measuring reversibility as one component for achieving this goal. Reversibility in the context of this research is defined as the degree to which the aggregated set of anticipated or unanticipated impacts of a development project can be mitigated. Several concepts found in the sustainable development literature are used in the framework. The efficacy of the framework is tested in a case study involving construction of hydropower transmission and distribution lines.

Key words:

• sustainability
• decision-making
• criteria
• reversibility