ENVIRONMENTAL
INDICATORS
factsheet
Bite-sized introductions to Sustainable Development themes
SMAP III Technical Assistance www.smap.eu This project is funded by the European Union
WHAT ?
Indicators are measured or observed parameters (quantitative or qualitative) which are selected for a regular use to describe existing situations (state of a system) and/or track changes over time (progress of a process). Normally, indicators are defined in different ways depending on the specific context and function for which they are used. In practice, indicators are approximations of reality (“proxies”) that provide us with easily digestible information on the events taking place around us, whether they are related to the state of an ecosystem, the economy of a country or a weather forecast. For example, we generally use the coliformes (group of bacteria related to E. coli) content in waters as an indicator of its level of contamination from human waste. This does not mean water has no other potential biological contaminants but we cannot check for them all everywhere and it was decided to use the presence of coliformes as the most suitable indicator for water safety. To avoid confusion with terms, it is also important to define what an indicator is not: - Data: are raw figures collected systematically by an operator or instrument. Data has to be appropriately re-elaborated before it can be used to calculate the value of an indicator. - Statistics: are tables of figures describing real phenomena following precise definitions (e.g. a table displaying population density for each governorate in Egypt in 2005). In most cases, statistics also need to be re-elaborated before they can be used to calculate the value of an indicator. - Index: a parameter providing a summary of the information contained in several indicators, appropriately aggregated. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is an index derived from the combination of a series of economic indicators (i.e. consumption, investment, government spending and import-export balance). It is clear from the definitions above that it is one thing to define an indicator (e.g. concentration of heavy metals in marine water) and another to calculate its value, which requires, in turn, the necessary data to be appropriately collected and elaborated.
WHY ?
Indicators are used to simplify the complexity of the real world and allow us to quantify one or more of its elements in order to communicate easily understandable information to intended final users (e.g. general public, decision-makers, managers etc.). Regardless of our willingness or not the get involved with indicators, we are surrounded by them every day in all aspects of our lives (e.g. weather forecasts, financial information at work, prices at the market, grades in school etc.). Therefore, the questions we should ask when approaching indicators is not Why should I be using indicators ? but How do I use indicators to get my message across in an understandable and reliable way ?
WHEN ?
Indicators are useful tools and must be treated as such. Whatever context we are working in - but particularly in sustainable development where the economic, environmental, social and governance spheres need to engage into a dialogue - it is advisable to leave the tool in the box until it is needed. This means we need to understand the scope of the problem(s) to be addressed, discuss and clarify purposes, define specific objectives, plan required activities, assign responsibilities, locate funds etc. before indicators get into the picture. Given the importance internationally attributed to indicators nowadays, they are all too often perceived as an additional, inevitable element of our work. This approach is counterproductive in two ways: it raises indicators to the level of objectives (instead of a tool to achieve an objective), and contributes to the (false) perception that they are a detached element which needs to be somehow integrated in the rest of our work. On the contrary, if introduced with the correct approach (see below Where do I start ?) after analysing, discussing and defining our problem, objectives and activities , indicators are the natural consequence..
WHO ?
In the sustainable development context, the stakeholders to be involved are all organisations (ministries, agencies, NGOS etc.) expected to hold the information required to calculate the indicator’s value. As can be imagined, this covers a very large number of organisations of different types, and it varies also depending on the level of detail (scale) of the required information (e.g. city, province, country, region etc.): national institute of statistics, line ministers and associated stats offices, specific government
agencies (e.g. Agence pour la Protection et l’Aménagement du Littoral or APAL in Tunisia), local administrations, individual funded projects which have collected data on specific topics, universities, research institutes, health services, public transport companies, professional associations, etc. Digging for information we often find that what we are looking for is available but not accessible. Experience shows all organisations, including public ones, share a common resistance to share data or other sources of information. Therefore, early identification and engagement of the key “data holders” is recommended to create a collaborative environment and facilitate data access.
HOW ?
A fundamental pre-requisite to the identification of indicators is an in-depth analysis and understanding of the system we are dealing with (i.e. the economic, social and environmental elements and their causeeffect relationships) and the clear and unambiguous delimitation of the boundaries of our area of interest, both geographically (i.e. a city, a country, the planet) and conceptually (e.g. groundwater, energy efficiency, traffic, a combination of all). This requires a team of experts in different topics to engage in a discussion with the aim of defining these elements as unambiguously as possible. This exercise requires strong guidance because experts with different backgrounds tend to get wrapped up in their particular topic losing track of the overall aim. It is therefore advisable for a “neutral” coordinator/moderator to support this process by constantly reminding the participants what they are trying to achieve. Once the system is well understood, it is generally very simple to identify suitable indicators selecting from the very numerous indicators available at the international level (see below Useful links). Note that if we start from these lists without a clear understanding of our needs we tend to become confused and feel overwhelmed by indicators. Once identified, a large amount of constituent elements needs to be defined for each indicator before it is fit for use (e.g. unit of measure, data availability and sources, data collection and analysis methods etc.). The definition of all these elements is a resource intensive task and this is one reason why there are often very practical choices to be made as to the number and nature of the indicators to adopt. Unfortunately, this last step is often overlooked undermining the possibility to use the indicators in practice. The definition of the indicators should be left to relevant organisations (possibly public) which have direct experience with the collection and analysis of the data required to calculate the indicators’ value. The cost-effectiveness of obtaining data to calculate an indicator has to be carefully evaluated before embarking on a monitoring programme. In fact, the use of indicators shows its advantages only in the long-term. Experience shows that continuous and consistent monitoring of the values of indicators is needed to make the exercise worthwhile.
WHERE ?
Almost every country in the region (eg Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon) produces a State of the Environment Report, largely based on indicators. Details can be found on the website of the Ministry of Environment for individual countries. International and regional organisations using indicators include: - UNEP PAP/RAC & Plan Bleu: Sustainability Analysis for the Mediterranean Region - ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) : sustainable development indicators obtained adapting the UNCSD list to the region.
SD LINKS
Indicators are a very flexible tool and, given their simplification-quantification-communication function, they can be useful in conjunction with virtually any other sustainable development instrument (e.g. EIAs, SEAs, policy development, stakeholder participation etc.).
SUGGESTED READING
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/isd.htm http://www.oecd.org http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu http://ioc3.unesco.org/icam http://www.escwa.un.org http://www.planbleu.org/methodologie/indicateursSmdd.html