In August 2001, ProSus and the Municipality of Oslo were the hosts for an European expert workshop on the Ecological Footprint approach. Co-sponsors of the workshop were ProSus, The Western Norway Research Institute, ENSURE (European Network for Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Research), Ambiente Italia/European Common Indicator Project. The expert workshop gathered the leading researchers in the area of Ecological Footprint in Europe, as well as local authority representatives from a range of European cities. The aim of the workshop was threefold, and the three questions put forward were:

• What have been the major functions of the footprint approach, and where and why has it worked best thus far?
• What are the necessary/desirable next steps in the development of the methodology? How is the trade-off between comparable general relevance and contextual policy relevance to be resolved?
• How can the approach best be incorporated in viable strategies and initiatives for sustainable development?

The workshop included the presentations of the major experiences in Europe on the Ecological Footprint, focusing on the strength and weaknesses of the methodological approach as well as implications for policy-making. The development of a common methodology sheet for the use of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Analyses as sustainability indicators for sub-national geographical areas was also to be discussed in Oslo.

The European Common Indicator Project (ECIP) has the aim of including the Ecological Footprint in the set of European Common Indicators, and a standardized methodology sheet is therefore required. The ECIP is led by Ambiente Italia Research Institute, in partnership with Eurocities and Legambiente (Italy), and it is funded by the European Commission, the Italian Ministry of Environment and the Italian Agency for Environment Protection.

More than 90 local authorities are today participating in the project. As a basis for this discussion at the Oslo Workshop, the report: "The use of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Analyses as Sustainability Indicators for Sub-national Geographical Areas: A Recommended Way Forward", (Lewan and Simmons 2001) has been developed, outlining the methodological discrepancies and suggesting a standardized approach.

The experiences of the following countries/cities were presented:

UK: Craig Simmons, from Best Foot Forward
Sweden: Lillemor Lewan, University of Lund
Finland: Maija Hakanen, The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
Norway/Stavanger: Carlo Aall, The Western Norway Research Institute
Austria: Michael Narodoslawsky, Technical University of Graz/Sustainable Index Process
Italy/Trento: Paola Mattolin, University of Trento
Austria/Vienna: Hans Daxbeck, Resource Management Agency, City of Vienna
The Netherlands: Jan Juffermans, De Kleine Aarde

Summary of the Individual Sessions:
Part I, Part II, Part III
Programme (Word)
Participants