Environmental Indicators for North America North America’S Environment—Air Currents, Watersheds, and Wildlife and Their Habitat —Is Not Dissected by Political Borders
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United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi 00100, Kenya Tel: (+254) 20 7621234 Fax: (+254) 20 7623927 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.unep.org Environmental Indicators for North America North America’s environment—air currents, watersheds, and wildlife and their habitat —is not dissected by political borders. But Canada and the United States often measure environmental conditions and report on them using dierent indicators. This report examines the environmental indicators used by both nations, suggests a way develop a set of North American indicators, and using a number of common indictors, provides a snapshot of the level of progress being made in protecting the environmental assets and services that underpin North America’s economy. For further information Division of Early Warning and Assessment United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi 00100, Kenya Tel: (+254) 20 7624028 Fax: (+254) 20 7623943 Email: dewa.direc [email protected] Web: www.unep.org UNEP/DEWA/RS.06-1 DEW/0791/WA Environmental Indicators for North America ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Production Teams Unted Natons Envronment Programme (UNEP) Producton and Support Team Ashbindu Singh—Project Leader Jane E. Barr—Writer Erika Monnati—Research Assistant Jaime Thissen—Research Assistant Tejaswi Giri—Production Support Katharina Umpfenbach—Production Support Mamata Singh—Production Support Kimberly Giese—Design & Layout Cheryl Johnstone—Editor Daniel Archambault—Research Assistance, Commission for Environmental Cooperation Acknowledgement: Draft Review Paper on Selected Environmental Reporting and Indicator Practices, a study prepared for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America, March 2001, by Peter Hardi, with Pumulo Muyatwa. Copyright 2006, United Nations Environment Programme ISBN: 92-807-2683-8 Job Number: DEW/0791/WA This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. UNEP and the authors would appreci- ate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this report as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the United Nations Environment Programme. United Nations Environment Programme PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 20 7621234 Fax: +254 20 7623943/44 http://www.unep.org http://www.unep.net United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for North America 1707 H Street, NW, Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel: 1 (202) 785 0465 [email protected] http://rona.unep.org/ For bibliographic and reference purposes this publication should be referred to as: UNEP (2006), “Environmental Indicators for North America.” Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) P.O. Box 30552 Nairobi, Kenya This book is available from Earthprint.com, http://www.earthprint.com. DISCLAIMER The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the agencies cooperating in this project. The designations employed and the presentations do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP or cooperating agencies concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area of its authorities, or the delineation of its frontiers or boundaries. Mention of a commercial company or product in this report does not imply endorsement by the United Nations Environment Programme. The use of information from this publication concerning proprietary products for publicity or advertising is not permitted. Trademark names and symbols are used in an editorial fashion with no intention of infringement on trademark or copyright laws. We regret any errors or omissions that may have been unwittingly made. Printed in Canada Distribution by SMI (Distribution Services) Ltd. UK. This publication is printed on process chlorine free paper made of 100% post-consumer fibers. Envronmental Indcators for North Amerca Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................v List of Tables ................................................................................................................................vii List of Boxes ................................................................................................................................vii Preface ........................................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER ONE Environmental Indicators ........................................................................................................1 The State of SOE Reporting ............................................................................................................1 What Are Environmental Indicators? ...............................................................................................3 Types and presentation of environmental indicators ..................................................................3 The Role of Environmental Indicators .............................................................................................9 Limitations of indicators .......................................................................................................12 Organizational and Conceptual Frameworks ..................................................................................13 The PSR framework ..............................................................................................................13 The DPSIR framework ..........................................................................................................15 Limitations of the PSR framework .........................................................................................15 Natural capital flows and accounting approaches ....................................................................16 Biogeophysical approach ........................................................................................................18 Methods for Selecting Indicators ...................................................................................................19 Criteria for selecting indicators ..............................................................................................20 Organizing indicators into sets ..............................................................................................22 CHAPTER Two National Indicator Initiatives in Canada and the United States .....................................25 SOE Reporting and Indicator Development in Canada ...................................................................25 Two National Indicator Reports for Canada ...........................................................................27 Envronment Canada’s Envronmental Sgnals seres ................................................................ 27 The Natonal Round Table on the Envronment and the Economy’s Envronment and Sustanable Development Indcators for Canada ............................................ 28 SOE Reporting and Indicator Development in the United States .................................................... 29 Two National Indicator Reports for the United States ............................................................ 31 The US Envronmental Protecton Agency’s Draft Report on the Envronment .............................. 31 The Henz Center’s The State of the Naton’s Ecosystems: Measurng the Lands, Waters, and Lvng Resources of the Unted States ...................................... 32 A Comparison of Canadian and US National Indicators ................................................................ 34 Common issues .................................................................................................................... 34 Common indicators: Notes on Table 2 ................................................................................... 35 Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 36 Canada-US Bilateral Environmental and Ecosystem Indicator Initiatives ........................................ 37 The State of the Great Lakes ................................................................................................. 38 Georgia Basin–Puget Sound ................................................................................................. 40 Gulf of Maine ...................................................................................................................... 42 Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER THREE International Environmental Indicator Initiatives ........................................................... 47 UN Commission for Sustainable Development .............................................................................. 47 United Nations Environment Programme: GEO Indicators .............................................................49 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ...........................................................52 Other initiatives ...................................................................................................................55 Common