Objectives

1
Objectives

• To discuss
• ideas, assumptions and premises
• for a tailor-made
• environmental indicator framework
• for the
• Environmental Information and Reporting system
  for Vietnam

2
Methods and means

• Presentation of Indicator definition and design
• Discussion on Purpose of environmental indicators
  in the Vietnamese context
• Presentation of Development process and selection
  criteria
• Presentation of Indicator management - indicator
  factsheets
• Group work on the use of indicator factsheets for
  air, water resources and marine and coastal waters

3
Material and hand-outs

• Copy of presentations in Vietnamese and English
• Report on Methodology and process for indicator
  development
• Questionnaire to be filled out by each
  participant and returned at the end of the day
• Questions to be discussed during the group work
• Distribution of participants for the group work
  into three groups on air, water resources and
  marine and coastal waters

4
Indicator definition and design

• Introduction
• Definition
• Format
• Types of indicators
• Purpose and use
• Quality aspects

5
Introduction - basic assumptions

• The DPSIR model has been chosen as a framework to
  guide the work on indicators for the EIR project
• Indicators are essential tools for environmental
  management

6
Introduction
7
IntroductionIndicators in environmental
management

• Setting objectives
• Strategy follow-up
• Design, implement, evaluate policies
• Information supply
• Awareness raising

• Follow-up indicators
• Follow-up indicators
• Progress, evaluation
• Reporting including SOE reporting
• Communication, illustration

8
Definition

• A measure that summarises information relevant to
  a particular phenomenon or a reasonable proxy for
  such a measure (proxy means some kind of
  approximation)
• Ability to describe a development in an issue
  making it possible to evaluate if this
  development is desirable or not

9
Indicator formats

• Single indicators (point, spatial and/or temporal
  variation)
• Proxy indicators (approximation to the indicator
  you want to use in cases where ideal data/methods
  are unavailable)
• Environmental profiles (composite picture of an
  environmental theme)
• Indices (weighed, aggregated example Global
  Warming Potential)

10
Indicator types

• Descriptive indicators
• Performance indicators/normative indicators
• Efficiency indicators
• Total welfare indicators
• Headline indicators

11
Indicator typesDescriptive
12
Indicator typesDescriptive
13
Indicator typesDescriptive
14
Indicator typesPerformance/Normative indicator
15
Indicator typesPerformance/Normative indicator
16
Indicator typesEfficiency - decoupling
17
Indicator typesEfficiency
18
Indicator types

• Total welfare indicators
• Green GDP
• Sustainability indices
• Highly aggregated, can be difficult to
  obtain/calculate
• Headline indicators
• A few indicators (5-20)
• High priority subjects
• Mainly for communication purposes

19
Indicator purpose and use
Early warnings - information of environmental
management institutions and politicians Performanc
e - distance to targets, fulfilment of set goals
and agreements Response of policies - progress
and evaluation Comparisons/benchmarking -
country/country province/province Overall
planning and outlook - relations between economic
and environmental management Awareness raising -
communication and information of the public
20
Indicator quality aspects
Relevance - will it answer the question - is
there a question about this? Accuracy-
transparent and well documented how to create the
indicator Comparability - exact definition to
enable comparisons Consistency - co-variation in
underlying data and in indicator Reactivity -
indicator must be sensitive to the development it
is imaging Continuity - indicators need to be
regularly updated, procedure needed Data
availability - feasibility with respect to data
collection, technically and financially
21
Indicator purpose and use in the Vietnamese
context

Indicator Purpose Early warnings Performance
Response of policies Comparisons/benchmarking
Overall planning and outlook Awareness raising
Indicator types Descriptive indicators
Performance indicators, normative
indicators Efficiency indicators Total welfare
indicators Headline indicators
22
Indicator purpose and use
Early warnings - information targeted at
environmental management institutions and
politicians Descriptive indicators covering all
major environmental themes Pressure
indicators State indicators Impact indicators
23
Indicator purpose and use
Awareness raising - communication and information
of the public Headline indicators Descriptive
indicators Performance indicators Aggregated
indicators Indicators covering Driving forces,
pressure, state, impact and responses Select a
limited number of indicators e.g. headline
indicators
24
Indicator purpose and use
Performance - distance to targets, fulfilment of
set goals and agreements Performance/normative
indicators Efficiency indicators Indicators
covering pressure, state, impact,
response Clear link to politically defined
environmental goals
25
Indicator purpose and use
Response of policies - progress and
evaluation Performance indicators Response
indicators Indicators covering response, but
maybe also driving forces, pressure, state
impact Indicator formulation depends heavily on
the content of the policies to be evaluated
26
Indicator purpose and use
Comparisons/benchmarking - fx. country/country or
even more relevant in the Vietnamese context
province/province Descriptive indicators Performa
nce indicators Efficiency indicators Indicators
covering Driving forces, pressure, state, impact
and responses Benchmarking means comparison, but
also sharing experiences and learning from each
other
27
Indicator purpose and use
Overall planning and outlook - relations between
economic development and environmental
development and management Efficiency
indicators Total welfare indicators Indicators
covering Driving forces, pressure, state, impact
and responses May require establishment of
relatively complex methodology
28
Indicator development process and selection
criteria

29
Indicator development

• Define the most important problems
• Identify the primary purpose of the information
• Use the DPSIR framework to identify the most
  strategic indicators to serve the purpose
• Check with present data availability
• Select indicator

30
Indicator selection criteria

• Policy relevance
• Progress towards target
• Temporal and spatial coverage
• Relevance at provincial level
• Understandable and simple
• Conceptually and methodologically well founded
• Well documented and of known quality
• Data availability

31
Indicator Management

• WHY?
• Transparency
• Documentation
• Continuity
• Efficiency
• Responsiveness

32
Indicator management

• Presentation of DPSIR diagrams for
• Air
• Water resources
• Marine and coastal water

33
AIR

• Driving forces
• The general
• development in population
• Relevant sectors
• Transport
• Industry
• Service
• Households
• Energy

Pressures Emission of pollutants NO, NO2, SO2,
NH4, Particles (PM10), NMVOC, Lead, CH4, CO,
dioxin
State of the Environment Air quality in urban
areas NO, NO2, SO2, Particles (PM10), O3, Lead,
CO, dioxin etc. Pollution of food grown in
urban areas
Impacts Ecosystems in urban areas parks etc.
Agriculture in vicinity of pollution
sources Human health e.g. respiratory diseases
and disorders, cancer, nervous system diseases,
excess premature mortality

• Responses
• Mitigating actions
• Environmental policies to reach environmental
  state objectives (e.g. standards and criteria to
  regulate the pressures)
• Sector policies (limits and control on sector
  development to reduce/change the activities or
  the pressures these activities produce)
• Environmental awareness
• Specific poverty reduction measures

34
Water resources

• Driving forces
• The general development in population
• Agriculture
• Aquaculture
• Hydropower
• Water supply
• Industry
• Service
• Households
• Mining
• Forestry
• Water transport
• Inland fisheries

Pressures Abstraction of water for irrigation,
human consumption, industry Discharge of
pollutants to rivers and reservoirs Construction
of dams, ports etc. Erosion Exploitation of
fisheries resources
Impacts on Biodiversity, Ecosystems Natural
resources Humans polluted drinking water, water
borne diseases, reduced income/nutrition of
inland fisheries and agriculture, relocation,
flooding, droughts

• State of the Environment
• water quantity and flow
• inundation, flooding
• sediment transport, siltation
• river morphology
• water quality
• pathogens
• eutrophication
• extinction of ecosystems
• vegetation, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish
• salinization of river, underground water

• Responses
• Mitigating actions
• Environmental policies to reach environmental
  state objectives
• Sector policies (limits and control on sector
  development to reduce/change the activities or
  the pressures
• Environmental awareness
• Specific poverty reduction measures
• Integrated management of water bodies

35
Marine and coastal water

• Driving forces
• The general develop-
• ment in population
• Relevant sectors e.g.
• Agriculture
• Aquaculture
• Industry
• Service
• Households
• Forestry
• Water transport
• Fisheries

Pressures Discharge of pollutants directly and
via rivers Oil spills Explotation of fish
resources Sediment transport from
rivers Coastal erosion

• State of the Environment
• sediment transport, siltation
• coastal morphology
• water quality pathogens
• oil pollution
• eutrophication, algae blooms
• extinction of ecosystems and species
• vegetation, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish

Impacts on Biodiversity, Ecosystems mangroves,
seagrasses, coral reefs Natural resources
Fisheries Humans reduced income from fisheries
and aquaculture, water borne diseases.

• Responses
• Mitigating actions
• Environmental policies to reach environmental
  state objectives
• Sector policies (limits and control on sector
  development to reduce/change the activities or
  the pressures)
• Environmental awareness
• Specific poverty reduction measures
• Coastal zone management

36
Indicator factsheets

• Title
• Key message
• Illustration - pictures, figures, graphs
• Description
• Policy context and relevance
• Relevant political processes
• Environmental context
• Assessment
• Sub-indicator
• e.g. spilt into components, sectors, etc.
• indicator for each relevant province

37
Indicator factsheets

• References
• Data
• Spreadsheet files
• Other types of information in a file
• Meta data
• Web presentation and information
• Technical information
• Qualitative information
• Further work required to improve the indicator

38
Indicator factsheetsMeta data
Web presentation information 1. Abstract /
description / teaser 2. Policy issue /
question 3. VEPA dissemination themes 4.
DPSIR
39
Indicator factsheetsMeta data
Technical information 5. Data source 6.
Description of data 7. Geographical coverage
8. Temporal coverage . 9. Methodology and
frequency of data collection. . 10. Methodology
of data manipulation
40
Indicator factsheetsMeta data

• Qualitative information
• 11. Strength and weakness (at data level).
• 12. Reliability, accuracy, robustness,
  uncertainty (at data level).
• 13. Overall scoring (give 1 to 3 points 1no
  major problems,
• 3major reservations) with regard to
• Relevance
• Accuracy
• Comparability over time
• Comparability over space

41
Indicator factsheets

• Transparent
• Provides documentation of the indicators
• Suitable for establishing update procedures
• Improves responsiveness
• Increases efficiency
• May seem time consuming to establish and update
• but the time will be needed anyway

42
Next steps

• 1. The report on indicator methodology revised
• 2. Draft list of indicators developed
• 3. Workshop on indicator selection criteria
• 4. Indicator factsheets developed