Environmental indicator frameworks to design and assess environmental monitoring programs

Abstract

Monitoring is fundamental to environmental impact assessment (EIA) both to assess adherence to standards and to support management options. The use of indicators assures that a monitoring program addresses only the key variables associated with significant environmental impacts and also improves monitoring communication and reporting processes. This paper develops a conceptual framework to design and assess an environmental post-decision monitoring program under EIA procedures -INDICAMP. It also discusses how current indicator frameworks can be used to design and evaluate the performance of environmental monitoring programs in projects. A coastal infrastructure case study demonstrates the usefulness of this methodology.

Scoring environmental credentials: a review of UK conference and meetings venues using the GREENER VENUE framework

“…There is also considerable diversity in environmental indicator frameworks (Hodge, 1997;Ramos et al, 2004) that has created difficulties in undertaking comparisons across businesses, domains and nations (Ramos et al, 2007). Furthermore there appears to have been no obvious attempt to standardise EPIs within Environmental Performance Evaluation, with existing ratings and measures being somewhat arbitrary (Xie and Hayase, 2007).…”

Rainforest Alliance Certification of Kenyan tea farms: a contribution to sustainability or tokenism?

“…These differences have (OECD, 1999). In order to ensure that the indicators serve the purpose for which they are intended and to control the way they are specifically selected and developed, Ramos et al (2004) advise that it is important to organise them in a consistent framework. The use of agri-environmental indicators has provided an alternative to the costly monitoring programmes (Legg & Parris, 2006).…”

“…This is an indicator framework for measuring sustainability which was adapted from the PSR in order to include human activities, processes and patterns that impact on sustainable development (Ramos et al, 2004). It is among the commonly used conceptual indicators frameworks within the context of environmental assessments (Niemeijer & de Groot, 2007).…”

A conceptual framework for the integral management of marine protected areas

“…In general MPAs have been sited at intrinsically ecological rich places based more on opportunistic human factors than on relevant ecological and/or socioeconomic features such as: currents structure, habitat requirements, inter-specific processes, fishing effort distribution, effects of MPA location, size and design [33], resulting in a very heterogeneous pool of small reserves along the coast and a number of very large high seas reserves within the EEZs countries. This heterogeneity is also reflected in the management implemented and, therefore, in its results, being difficult postcomparisons to deduce general trends derived from the effects of protection.…”