A participatory approach to define objectives, criteria and indicators for evaluating the sustainability of rabbit rearrinf units
Résumé
This work describes four steps involved in the construction of a method for evaluating the sustainability of rabbit farms: 1) determining the boundaries of the system evaluated; 2) defining and weighting sustainability objectives and criteria; 3) choosing sustainability indicators; 4) converting the indicator measurement into a score to facilitate in terpretation of the results. The work was developed collaboratively as part of a participatory approach based on building consensus between experts, rabbit industry actors (producers, breeders, slaughterers...), citizens, and consumers. The outcome was a survey containing 110 questions related to economic, environmental, and social goals that can be used to evaluate sustainability of the rabbit breeding unit. The method was validated by in-field applicati on in a national network of 82 reference farms. Analys is of the data gathered from this network enabled us to produce national data on sustainability performance and economic, social, and environmental efficiency.