Development of Environmental Indicator Systems: Experiences from Germany

Abstract

ABSTACT / Environmental indicator systems aim to improve both the information and communication on the state of the environment and the environmental policy making. They have to fulfill scientific, functional and pragmatic requirements, e.g., consideration of ecological context, transparency and reproducibility, comprehensibility, policy relevance, international comparability, and justifiable expenditure. This paper analyzes the experiences made with the development of the German environmental indicator system and draws general conclusions toward further improvements. For Germany, an indicator system has been developed that uses the pressure-state-response approach proposed by the OECD, together with a classification in 14 environmental themes. According to the general requirements, the main criteria used for selecting the indicators are the ecological significance of the indicator, its quantifiability and data availability, and its comprehensibility and policy relevance. Altogether, about 140 indicators are selected. This high number stresses the need for further high-level aggregation, e.g., using methods developed for the valuation process in LCA. Further improvement is also needed, especially for the development of response indicators and in the area of data systematization.

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“…A avaliação e a quantificação do estado de conservação dos fragmentos podem ser feitas com o uso de indicadores ambientais, que são parâmetros de fácil mensuração, acessíveis e comparáveis (Bosch & Gabrielsen, 2003). A comunicação é a maior função dos indicadores: eles devem permitir ou promover a troca de informações sobre o que se avalia, simplificando uma realidade complexa (Bosch & Gabrielsen, 2003), o que é requerido pelos gestores ambientais (Donnelly et al, 2007;Walz, 2000).…”

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“…Even though national experience of SDI frameworks, e.g. that of Spain (Gallego, 2006), Germany (Walz, 2000) and Finland (Rosenströ m and Kyllö nen, 2007) considers the requirements of indicator selection, including public participation approaches to support SDI development, it does not include meta-evaluation of the SDI systems themselves or their components, procedures and indicator outcomes and impacts.…”

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“…Since 1992, several countries and international organizations have developed a system of indicators suited to their particular geographic setting, spatial scale and economic and environmental context [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development [10] …”