In impact assessments, effects of actions or policy options on societal targets are analysed. Because the number of societal targets and of potential impacts is too high to be investigated in a single assessment, some restriction or focus is required. Assessment perspectives are a thematic focus that can be used to make assessments operable. For example, assessments could choose to only analyse effects in relation to animal welfare or economic performance. More than one perspective may be chosen for an impact assessment, each with its own Impact Area.
The BonaRes Assessment Platform currently supports the perspectives of Ecosystem Services and Resource Use Efficiency in its Indicator Factsheets. Both perspectives are largely complementary and highly relevant for agriculture in industrialised countries where yield gaps are low, and in particular for evaluating transformation processes from a fossil fuel based economy towards a bioeconomy based on renewable resources.
Additionally, the fields of Sustainable Development Goals and Soil Contamintation and Human Health give different perspectives on the broader system in which agricultural actors are operating.