Environmental indicators are needed to analyze and monitor development processes.
However, development policies and strategies are elaborated and applied at different level
of society, and effects and consequences of such policies are observed at different
scales. Indicators must, therefore, be selected in relation to these characteristics and
to the user's needs.The goal of the present work is to prepare a set of indicators that
might be utilized in the evaluation and design of environmental policies. Besides defining
descriptive indicators that may help policy-makers quantitatively evaluate a given
situation, normative indicators and needed to compare reference values and to show in what
direction society must proceed. For this, we used a rational methodology for selecting
retrospective and prospective environmental indicators in relation to key environment and
development issues.
When the project "Rural Sustainability Indicators: Outlook for Central
America" started in 1998, it was recognized that there was a need in Central America,
at the regional, national, and local levels, to integrate environmental, economic, and
social concerns into development decision making. Such integration would both improve
policies and their implementation and facilitate regular monitoring and reporting on the
national and regional state of the environmental and development process. Although
economic and social indicators had been adopted in the region and influenced national,
regional and global policy decisions, comparable indicators to assess, monitor, and
evaluate changes in and impacts on the state and quality of the environment were found to
be lacking.
Due to the similarities between Central America and many regions in the world, the
Central America Project has been selected to illustrate the practical. In addition the
Central America Project's objectives are comparable to those of many other indicator
initiatives:
- Develop, test, and refine environmental, land quality, and other related indicators and
information tools in a user-friendly geographic information system interface, for the
integration of rural sustainability considerations into policymaking and planning.
- Improve environmental management at the regional, national, and local levels in Central
American countries.
For the project "Environmental and Sustainability Indicators: Outlook for Latin
America and the Caribbean" the model presented here is based on the elaboration of
three groups of indicators at different levels and scales (countries and life-zones;
regions; and localities). The first group is employed to observe the causes of
environmental problems (Pressure on the Environment); the second group reflects the
quality of the environment in relation to the effects of the human actions (State of the
Environment); and the third refers to the measures and responses taken by society to
ameliorate environmental damages (Response on the Environment). In addition, a fourth
group of perspective indicators relates to the progress necessary to make land-use
sustainable (Progress Toward Sustainability).
In all, some 44 Environmental Pressure Indicators, 47 Environmental State Indicators, 5
Environmental Response Indicators, and 12 Progress Toward Sustainability Indicators were
selected. The indicators are presented in tables at a regional level for countries and
life-zones, and in boxes at a subregional or local level for plots, basins, and ecosystem.
A short analytical text accompanies each of the specific subjects, as well as the
bibliographic references and data sources. Technical notes show the data sources, the
choice and definition of some indicators and the elaboration of data in cases where the
information was calculated specifically for this work. At the same time, a series of data
and indicators are presented to reveal trends. Finally, some figures illustrate the
evolution of trends.
The first iteration of this work focuses on subregional and local levels, especially
when analyzing peasant agriculture activities. This emphasis is due to the importance of
peasant agriculture for Latin America and the Caribbean, in terms of both past and present
problems, and of future opportunities. The subregional and local analyses are studies of
partial cases. They illustrate the causes and solutions of the problems at different
scales. However, they do not provide a complete vision of sustainability in land-use.
Rather, the objective is to give examples of the type of information and indicators
necessary to understand the development process and to elaborate actions and responses to
related problems.
|
