Costs and Effectiveness of a Set of Pressure State Response Indicators

Both Environmental Assessment and Monitoring can be very costly, but they need not be.

The requirement is for a set of Pressure State Response Indicators that will provide the information to planners, stakeholders and other decision makers and managers that will allow them to respond to a particular situation in a timely manner.

The following criteria for a set of indicators need to be considered:

- Timely - need to provide information in time to affect management decisions; there is no point in starting a complex research programme if the results will not be available at the time that a management decision has to be made.
- Informative - need for information in an accessible form, not just data, so that it is understandable to decision makers.
- Cost Effective - monitoring must be affordable at local and national level. In some cases the cost will need to be balanced against timeliness - if information is needed rapidly, then this may imply employing additional resources or going for an alternative and more expensive system.

Given the above criteria, this toolbox will assess sets of indicators within the following levels:

- Low Resources Level - where resources are limited. A typical set of indicators might involve a review of census data followed by local consultation using tools such as PRA to establish pressure changes, field indicators of state change such as the presence of weed species or loss of key species, and a review of policy/institional change and changes in enforcement of legislation to give response indicators.

- Medium Resource Level - where resources are more readily available, and where potential impacts merit a more thorough appraisal. A typical set of indicators would include the above, together with additional state indicators such as reviews of low resolution satellite data and collection of additional field data to establish the nature and extent of changes to state. Pressure indicators might be refined to incorporate gender issues and wider socio-economic pressures. Response indicators could incorporate reviews of local and informal authority structures / institutions and traditional intra-community and inter-community negotiation mechanisms.

- High Resources Level - where resources are not restricting. State indicators might include data-logging, high resolution satellite imagery, detailed ground surveys and high intensity sampling. Socio-economic studies would also be intensified and high resolution time series satellite imagery might be used to establish detailed changes in land use patterns. Review of response indicators could also be made more comprehensive.

IN ALL CASES THE EVALUATION WILL COMPRISE
A SET OF PRESSURE, STATE and RESPONSE INDICATORS.

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