A UNEP PROPOSAL: Environmental Indicators for North America.

Canada and the United States share air and water-sheds and ecosystems that cross borders. But the two countries often measure environmental conditions and report on them using different indicators.

In November 2006, UNEP released Environmental Indicators for North America, a 158-page report that looks at the indicators used to describe environmental conditions and trends in Canada and the United States. The report identifies common issues and indicators and suggests a candidate list of feasible environmental indicators to report on the region as a whole.

The few chosen indicators clearly reveal certain trends. These include an encouraging decoupling of total energy consumption from economic growth; a clear increase in energy consumption, especially by the transport sector; strong progress in decreasing the release of sulphur oxides but less success in stemming nitrogen oxides; very little change in the concentrations of ground level ozone in the atmosphere; strong declines in fish harvests; stable or slight increases in forested areas; more areas set aside for protection; and a growing urban population. To make the messages clear to decision makers and the interested public, each indicator is accompanied by explanatory text and happy, neutral, or sad faces. These symbols are subjective interpretations of the trends as environmental threats or opportunities and render them visually striking to the reader. It is hoped that these examples show the potential for environmental indicators to be used to draw attention to the most pressing issues that decision makers need to address.

This work responds to an increasing need to develop consistent and comparable approaches to national and regional indicator sets for environmental and sustainability reporting that better meet the needs of those involved in making policy decisions at national and international levels.

 Environmental Indicators for North America is freely downloadable at:  http://www.na.unep.net/reports.php#Indicators

For more information or to obtain a copy of this publication visit:
Earthprint: http://www.earthprint.com or UNEP/GRID–Sioux Falls: http://www.na.unep.net/ or UNEP Regional Office for North America: http://www.rona.unep.org/publications.ht…

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year 2007!
Tejaswi Giri
 tgiri at usgs.gov