Sustainable Indicators Conference - Towards a Core Set of National Environmental Indicators

Towards a Core Set of National Environmental Indicators

Environmental Indicators Programme

Environmental Indicators Framework

Selection and Development of Indicators

Implementation

Concluding Remark

Peter Cochrane, Ministry for the Environment

Proposed Priority Order for the Development of Environmental Indicators

Environmental Indicators Programme
Environmental Indicators Framework
Selection and Development of Indicators
Implementation
Concluding Remark

The concept of sustainable management of the environment is well established in New Zealand legislation and environmental policy. Environmental monitoring is central to sustainable management to identify, assess and prioritise existing environmental issues, to determine whether environmental policies are effective in achieving sustainable management, and to recognise areas of emerging concern.

Decisions about the use of resources and the protection of the environment are complex, and at times costly. Often, those who make environmental decisions or those who are required to change their economic activities and personal behaviour, do not have access to relevant, understandable environmental information. The use of environmental indicators in monitoring and in environmental reporting will address this shortfall.

An environmental indicator is something that is measured to act as a sign - an indication of a particular environmental condition. An environmental indicator may include an animal or plant that is particularly sensitive to an environmental change, a chemical or pollutant in water, soil or air, or simply a measure of a physical quantity of a resource.

Environmental indicators attempt to bridge the gap between science and environmental policy by reducing environmental data and simplifying environmental information.

A core set of indicators should provide sufficient information to trace the state of the environment with some confidence, and trigger appropriate and timely action to address adverse environmental conditions when necessary.

The Ministry for the Environment proposes a programme to establish a core set of nationally standardised environmental indicators that will help assess the state of the environment and help monitor the outcomes of environmental policies and key legislation, including the Resource Management Act and the Government's Strategy on the Environment (Environment 2010).

The objectives of the programme include:

developing an agreed organisational framework and an agreed process to select and develop a core set of environmental indicators, by the end of 1995;

selecting, developing and implementing, in a step-by-step manner and in an agreed priority order, an accepted core set of environmental indicators, by 30 June 1998;

assisting Statistics New Zealand to establish a database containing information on the types and locations of relevant environmental monitoring networks and databases, monitoring agencies and contact personnel, by 30 June 1996; and

developing a national indicators database containing the core environmental indicators data and statistics, by 1 March 1997.

The programme itself will not report on the state of the environment nor the progress towards environmental policy objectives. It will only provide a core set of information from which these assessments can be made. In some cases, particularly when adverse environmental trends are recorded, additional information from a variety of sources will be needed to assess the causes of these trends.

An organisational framework is proposed to help develop a coherent set of environmental indicators. The proposed framework follows the issues-based pressure - state - response model developed by the OECD but also focuses on developing indicators for significant ecosystems, and subdividing indicators of environmental pressures and societal responses into sector contributions where appropriate.

The issues identified in the framework are the significant national environmental issues identified in Environment 2010 but the framework is flexible and can be modified to include issues that are significant at regional, local or community level, and to address emerging issues.

Deficiencies in the framework may be discovered during the development of the indicators which may result in the framework being modified.

The indicators will be spatially organised into surface water catchments, to facilitate environmental analysis and reporting. The administrative areas of local authorities are likely to be an important secondary structuring components, as will the New Zealand land area, the territorial sea and the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Outline of the Proposed Issues-Based Environmental Indicators Framework

Several selection criteria are proposed to ensure that the indicators that are developed meet the requirements of the users.

The adopted environmental indicators need to be:

simple and robust;
policy relevant;
analytically valid;
cost effective;
easily understood; and
use existing data and information wherever possible.

A selection and development process is proposed that will encourage stakeholder participation and develop a wide acceptance and "ownership" of the proposed environmental indicators. The process will concentrate on developing clusters of indicators for each priority environmental issue, with a particular focus on developing indicators for significant ecosystems. The indicators will be developed in a step-by-step manner and in a priority order of development.

Technical focus groups will review existing monitoring programmes and existing indicators, scope the range of useful indicators and pre-select a small cluster of potential indicators for each issue. This will provide a basis for the selection of indicators in workshops comprising central and local government personnel, sector bodies, resource protection groups, community groups, and research institutions.

Forum participants will select indicators that are consistent with the framework and selection criteria, and recommend further work to reduce uncertainty, where necessary. The indicators selected by the workshop participants will be presented in draft indicators reports, which will be available for comment before being adopted.

The key to the successful implementation of the programme is the development of simple, policy-relevant, robust, scientifically credible indicators, that can be cost-effectively implemented.

Year One: 1995/96 Financial Year

Land.
Water.
Air.
Pollution waste and hazardous substances.

Year Two: 1996/97 Financial Year

Pollution waste and hazardous substances - cont.
Indigenous habitat and biodiversity.
Pests weed and diseases.
Fisheries resources.
Energy

Year Three: 1997/98 Financial Year

Climate change.
Ozone depletion.
Additional, social cultural and economic indicators, and indicators of the built and urban environment, if necessary.

Implementation of the indicators will require the Ministry for the Environment to take a leading role in:

providing and disseminating information on the development of indicators; advocating the consistent use of the framework to develop indicators; financially assisting with the implementation of indicators where this is appropriate; and
establishing formal measures (memoranda of understanding, letters of agreement) to secure the ongoing collection and the provision of indicators data.

Indicators

Sectors

Issues

Environmental
Pressures

Environmental
Conditions

Societal
Responses

Ecosystems

This is a first step to develop a national set of environmental indicators but more planning is still required. The success of the programme depends on widespread ownership of the indicators and all interested parties are welcome to participate in their selection and development.