Post on 29-Jan-2016
description
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EEA/UNECE Workshop on Core Environmental Indicators for EECCA
27-28 June 2003, St Petersburg
EEA Core set of indicators: methodological concepts and
description of indicators
Andrus Meiner
European Environment Agency
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Management Board Members:Commission, Parliament, Governments
EEA CopenhagenScientific Committee EUROSTAT JRC
NFP’s National Focal Points
5 ETC’sEuropean Topic Centres
Consortia MembersNRC’s
National Reference Centres
Waste and Material Flow
Air andClimate Change
Nature and Biodiversity
Water
Terrestrial Environment
EIONET
monitorings
registers
Other sourses
public
EEA
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• Nominate Management board member• Nominate National focal point • Nominate National reference centres• Report data• Cooperate in preparation and revision of
EEA reports and indicators• Contribute to the development of EEA
working program• Can partitipate in meetings, European topic Centres, Scientific Commettee and
send national ekspert to work in EEA
Countries cooperation
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The EEA as a continuously updated information provider
• Packaged targeted information • Frameworks guidelines, databases • Broad integrated assessments
1999 Turn of the Century report (State of Environment in European Union)2003 Europea’s Environment: the third assessment (Kiev report)2004/5 state & outlook report
• Indicator-based productsSignals 2001, 2002
Transport and Environment reporting mechanism (TERM) 2001, 2002
• Experiences, practices, solutions
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What is indicator
Indicator is something that provides a clue to a matter of larger significance or makes perceptible a trend or phenomena that is not imediately detectable (Hammont et al, 1995)
Indicator should:Simplify information in a manner that promotes the
understanding of environmental problems to both decision makers and public.
Be practical and realistic;
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About indicators
• Communication is the main function of indicators• To make this communication process work, simplicity is
needed. Indicators simplify a complex reality. – An indicator distils information derived from analysing data obtained
by monitoring and data collection. – Raw data or statistics do not make an indicator without the results of
analysis and synthesis.
• Linking to other indicators and telling the story about an environmental problem or pressures from a sector gives a much better understanding of the indicator.
• Many of the EEA indicators has to be seen in a context – together with other indicators on the same issue.
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Role of the indicators in policy cycle
Problem definition
Scale appropriate data collection
Analyses Reports and Indicators
Decision makers reaction
EEA
Other stakeholders
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MDIAR: from monitoring to reporting
MONITORING
INFORMATION
ASSESSMENTDATA
REPORTING
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MDIAR and MDIAK What are the policy questions?
K What do we need to Know?
A What Assessments are needed?
I What Indicators are needed?
D What Data is needed at European level?
M What Monitoring is needed to deliver
required data
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Causality chain DPSIR
DRIVING FORCESe.g. causes
PRESSURES e.g. pollutants
STATE e.g. quality
IMPACT e.g. ecosystems, health, materials
RESPONSES e.g. policies and targets
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Typology of EEA indicators
A – DESCRIPTIVE INDICATORSShare of organic farming in total agricultural area, %
B – PERFORMANCE INDICATORSDistance-to-target: GHG emissions and Kyoto target
C – EFFICIENCY INDICATORSEco-efficiency: level of emissions per unit of GDP
D – POLICY EFFICIENCY INDICATORSLink environmental change with policy effords (responses)
E – TOTAL WELFARE INDICATORSSustainable development indicators
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Why to develop indicators?
• To guide the policies • monitor the changes in State of Environment, emerging
issues, effects of policies..
• To compare the countries and regions • To raise awareness• To help investigate links with sectors, cause
effect chain, synergies
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1. POLICY 2. DATA
Two faces of indicators
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Development of EEA CSI is policy driven - … and CSI guides the policy
The aim is to develop the (coherent) core set of policy relevant indicators which support
• State of environment reporting in EEA and • EU environmental policy processes: EU Environmental Action Programme, EU sustainable development strategy, EU reporting directives, INSPIRE....
1st face: Indicators and Policy
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EEA CSI drives the collection of data
• More stable and regular data flows• 9 priority data flows at moment
• Indicator documentation • fact sheets
• Connect CSI with reporting system• Web accessibility
• 96 indicators currently on the web
2nd face: Indicators and Data
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Steps in indicator design
• Development of core set of indicators• criteria, purpose
• Construction• data collection and harmonization
• Presentation• http://ims.eionet.eu.int/
• Usage
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Consultation of indicator core set
• First compilation• 1st consultation round• Refinement• 2nd consultation round• Approval on management level
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POLICY QUESTIONS AND INDICATORS
Generic question Policy question Indicator title DPSIR Priority
Are the abstractions from our water resources sustainable over the long term?
Are we using less water?Are some areas of Europe facing unsustainable trends i.e. overexploitation of water resources?
WQ1 Water exploitation index P ST
Are eutrophication and organic pollution decreasing?
Are we reducing the impact of nitrate on our groundwater?
WEU1 Nitrate in groundwater S ST
Are nutrients concentrations in our surface waters decreasing?
WEU2 Nutrients in rivers S ST
WEU3 Phosphorus in lakes S ST
WEU4 Nutrients in coastal waters
S ST
Are indicators of pollution with organic matter decreasing ?
WEU5 BOD and Ammonium in rivers
S ST
Linking policy objectives and indicators
Member States shall ensure by 2010- that water-pricing policies provide adequate incentives for users to use water resources efficiently, Water Framework Directive, Article 9
Is water pricing used as a tool for more efficient water use?
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125
150
175
200
225
1982 1986 1990 1994 1998
l/per
son/
day
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Wat
er p
rice
(kr)
Water use Price
In Denmark household water prices tripled during the 1990s with a marked effect on the water use.
Water prices
Linking policy objectives and indicators
To achieve levels of water quality that does not give rise to unacceptable impacts on, and risks to, human health and the environment 6EAP
Are nutrients concentrations in our surface waters decreasing?
Are impacts related to nutrients being reduced?
Nitrate in groundwater
Nutrients in rivers
Phosphorus in lakes
Nutrients in coastal and marine waters
Nitrate in drinking waterWater transparency in lakesChlorophyll in coastal and marine watersHarmful phytoplankton in coastal watersLow oxygen concentrations in bottom layers of marine waters
Indicators
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What is on the indicator FACT SHEET?
• Title• Graph with messages • Short assesment• Data used• Metadata: data sources, spatial and temporal
coverage, methodology, quality of information
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What is indicator STORYLINE?
• The main function of the “story” around each indicator subset or cluster of indicators is to communicate what is the framework within which the indicators will be assessed in broad terms. The storyline describes the environmental issue and the main sources/activities being responsible for the problem including cause-effect relationships.
• This text of the story line, together with the policy questions should serve to ensure the “right” focus of the selected indicators.
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Criteria for distinguishing between short, medium and long term indicators
Short term ST
Operational 2003/04
High policy relevance + existing fact sheet;Methodology well developed and in many cases also in other international sets.Indicator can illustrate temporal trend and comparability between countries.Data are available for most countries in 2003.Data expected for all countries 2004/05.
Mid term MT
Operational 2005/6
High policy relevance + descriptive/fact sheet; Methodology understood but not fully testedData available for some countries (less than 7) in 2003Data available for most countries by 2006
Long term LT
Under development
High policy relevance (e.g. halting the decline of biodiversity)Methodology little developed or unclear, Data are either scarce, or difficult to aggregate, or yet to defined; Indicator is under development and foreseen to be included in work programmes in the coming years.
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Examples: Short, Medium and Long Term indicators
• Waste– ST Generation of municipal waste WMF6– MT Generation of industrial waste WMF7– LT Generation of construction and demolition waste WMF8
• Agriculture– ST Fertiliser consumption AGRI7– MT Area planted with GMO crops AGRI12– LT Environmental training of farmers AGRI18
• Biodiversity– ST Species diversity (in proportion to countries area) BDIV2(a)– MT Agricultural land in designated areas BDIV13 (<- Agriculture) – LT Deadwood (in forest) BDIV14
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Main and sub-indicator
• In many cases issues being described by indicator are broad and have several aspects
• Main indicator can be supplemented by several related sub-indicators
• Sub-indicators based on the same data set (type 1)
• Sub-indicators describe different aspects of an issue (type 2)
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Examples: main indicator and sub-indicator type 1
CC12 Impacts on human health
CC12a
Seasonal Change of allergenic pollen (onset and duration)
CC12b
Vector-borne diseases (e.g. encephalitis) (distribution)
CC12c
Deaths (number of) due to heat waves
CC12d
Deaths (number of) due to floods
CC12e Food and water-borne diseases (distribution)
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Examples: main indicator and sub-indicator type 2
CC7 State of CryosphereCC7a Mountain glaciers (extent and mass balance)
CC7b Arctic sea ice (extent or duration)
CC7c Snow cover
CC7d Lake and river ice
CC7e Permafrost
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The goal: coherent set of indicators
• CSI is based on policy questions, DPSIR framework and storylines around them
• Timeframe for indicators become operational• short term, medium term, long term
• Cross-references to other issues in CSI• Descriptive/Fact sheets• Interlinkages with other relevant international
indicator inititatives• Future plans and usages
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Some suggestions for CSI development
• Indicator has to be seen as part of the story. The cluster of indicators chosen is important.
• Indicator development has both to be driven from bottom but also by more focus on the story/message we want to tell.
• Indicators are partial reflections of reality, based on uncertain and imperfect models. Simplification.
• Indicators can take many forms. They don’t have to be graphs. They can be signs, conceptual drawings, pictures etc.
• The process of finding, implementing, and improving indicators will not be done right at first. Nevertheless it is important urgently to begin and learn from the process.
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Input from EEA core set of indicators
ST: short term; MT: Medium term and LT: Long term
Main indicators Main and sub indicators
Main indicators ST/MT/LT
1. Air pollution 14 29 11/ 3/ 0 + Ozone layer depletion 4 4 4/ 0/ 0 2. Climate change 13 36 12/ 1/ 0 3. Waste & material flows 22 28 5/10/ 7 4. Water 38 46 14/17/ 7 + Water ecological quality 8 27 1/ 1/ 6 5. Biodiversity 15 54 5/ 8/ 2 6. Terrestrial environment 17 22 4/10/ 3 I. Agriculture 18 19 8/ 7/ 3 II. Energy 16 16 16/ 0/ 0 III. Transport 28 28 21/ 6/ 1 Total 193 309 101/63/29
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http://ims.eionet.eu.int/