Guidelines for the Application of Environmental Indicators

1. UN ECE CEP Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment7th Session Geneva 27 – 29 November 2006Item 5(a) Guidelines for the Application of Environmental Indicators in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia Prepared by the Workshop on the Application of Environmental Indicators and on Indicator-based Environmental Reports (Donetsk 31 October – 2 November 2006)

2. Introduction • Environmental Indicators = modern way for presentation of: • Key trends in the environmental status • Causes and effects of changes • Evaluation of policies • Priority setting • Assessment of compliance • International comparison • Changes made in Donetsk presented in red color

3. General issues raised in Donetsk • Relation with the EECCA Environmental Strategy (Kiev 2003). • Data availability, format and collection cycle. • Origin of the data in international databases (data or estimates ?). • List of abbreviation, symbols and units. • Choice of country specific indicators. • Translation (meanings in Russian and English)

4. Background • DPSIR Analytical Framework • Driving Forces (energy sector based on fossil fuels) • Pressures (emissions into the air) • State (poor quality of air) • Impact (risk for human health) • Response (Clean Air Act) • DPSIR approach must be more stressed and more visible

5. EECCA Indicators - Groups • 35 Core Indicators are divided into 9 groups: • Air Pollution and Ozone Depletion • Climate Change • Water • Landand SoilResources • Biodiversity • Agriculture • Energy • Transport • Waste

6. EECCA Indicators – Particular Indicators (1) • Air Pollution and Ozone Depletion • Emissions of pollutants into atmospheric air • Air quality in urban areas • Consumption of ozone depleting substances • Climate Change • - Greenhouse gas emissions

7. EECCA Indicators – Particular Indicators (2) • Water • Renewable freshwater resources • Freshwater abstraction • Household water use per capita • Water losses • Reuse and recycling of freshwater • Drinking water quality • BOD and concentration of ammonium in rivers • Nutrients in freshwater • Nutrients in coastal waters • Polluted (non-treated) wastewater

8. EECCA Indicators – Particular Indicators (3) • Land and Soil • -Land uptake(off production function) • -Area affected by erosion • Biodiversity • -Protected areas • -Forests and other wooden land • -Threatened and protected species • -Trends in number and distribution of selected species

9. EECCA Indicators – Particular Indicators (4) • Agriculture • Fertilizer consumption • Pesticide consumption • Energy • Final energy consumption • Total energy consumption • Energy intensity • Renewable energy consumption

10. EECCA Indicators – Particular Indicators (5) • Transport • Passenger transport demand • Freight transport demand • Composition of road vehicle fleet • Average age of road motor vehicle fleet • Road traffic accidents, mortality and injury rate • Waste • Waste generation • Trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste • Waste reuse and recycling • Final waste disposal

11. EECCA Indicators – Format of Description • Each indicator is described in accordance with the following scheme: • General description • Brief definition • Unit of measurement • Environmental policy relevance • Purpose • Issue • International agreements and targets (global and regional, sub-regional (EECCA and EU)) • Methodology and guidelines • Data collection and calculation • Internationally agreed methodologies and standards • Data sources and reporting • References at the international level

12. EECCA Indicators – Forms of Presentation (1) • Certain indicators should presented in several forms: • Absolute value • Per capita • Per area (ha or km2) • Per unit of GDP • Per sector • In some cases, supplementary information should be added to see the full meaning of the given indicator • Untreated waste water should be supplemented by the information on the difference between the percentage of population connected to public drinking water supply and percentage of population connected to public sewers.

13. EECCA Indicators – Forms of Indicators (2) • Time series are necessary to make full use of indicators. • (in the case of change of methodology, all data in time series should be recalculated !) • Projections are necessary to make full use of indicators. • Wherever the dependence of indicator value on economic activity is expected, supplementary information on the development of GDP • should be presented to assess the level of „decoupling“. • Numerical values of indicators should be supplemented by graphs or diagrams but must not be replaced by them.

14. EECCA Indicators – Forms of Indicators (3) • Majority of indicators should be presented in aggregated form • (e.g. national emissions of GHG or pollutants or freshwater abstraction) • In certain cases (mostly indicators of state), semi-aggregated form is recommended • Example • In the case of „BOD and concentration of ammonia in rivers“, several most important surveillance profiles should be presented separately while the resting profiles can be presented in aggregated form (e.g. percentage of non.compliance with standards)