Environmental indicator

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Environmental indicators are variables or measures that supply information about what is happening in the environment when it is not possible to monitor or measure every component of the environment due to technical and/or financial reasons. Environmental indicators normally include physical, biological and chemical measures. Since the environment is very complex, indicators provide a faster, easier and more economical way to find out what is happening than if researchers attempted to measure and record every variable in the environment. For example, a town may monitor air quality along with water quality and count the number of rare species of birds to estimate the health of the environment in their area.

Environmental indicators are a tool that can serve different purposes. They can be used to see if environmental objectives are being met, they can provide general information on the state of the environment to the general public and decision makers and they can be used as a diagnostic tool through detecting trends in the environment.

Some different types of environmental indicators include ecological indicators and indicator species (e.g. flagship species, keystone species, foundation species).

[edit] Audience

The type of indicators selected or developed should be partially based on who will be the key audience making use of the information from the indicators. There are three possible audiences to consider, each with different information needs. These audiences are: 1) technical experts and science advisors, 2) policy-makers, decision makers and managers, and 3) general public and media.

The technical experts and scientists will be interested in detailed and complex indicators. These indicators should have scientific validity, sensitivity, responsiveness and have historical data availalbe on past conditions. The audience that includes policy-makers and managers will be concerned with using indicators that are directly related to evaluating policies and objectives. They require their indicators to be sensitive, responsive and have historical data available like the technical audience, but they are also looking for indicators that are cost-effective and have meaning for public awareness. Finally, the general public are concerned about indicators being simple and representative of their issue of concern. Like the policy-makers, they also want indicators that are sensitive, address public awareness and are cost effective. ^[1]^[2]

[edit] References

↑ Ditor, M., O'Farrell, D., Bond, W., Engeland, J. (2001). "Guidelines for the development of sustainability indicators". Environment Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
↑ Rice, J.C. & Rochet, M-J. (2005). "A framework for selecting a suite of indicators for fisheries management". ICES Journal of Marine Science 62: 516-527.