About Coastal Indicators
What is an Indicator?
An indicator is a measured or observed parameter that provides a succinct description of a subject such as an ecosystem or one of its critical components, a place, or a population. Indicators offer information about a system, but their significance extends beyond the actual parameter values. For example, nitrogen levels in coastal waters may provide information on larger issues such as habitat suitability, sources of non-point pollution, and the effectiveness of pollution control regulations. An index, typically compiled from several indicators, is a way of presenting indicator data often as a single number or qualifying descriptor (i.e. good/fair/poor or high/medium/low).
Just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a well-known indicator that gives investors a general picture of the state of the stock market, coastal indicators give scientists and managers a picture of the state of our coastal ecosystems. Coastal indicators can focus on environmental health, economic health, or the health of coastal communities, and systems that combine all three of these important topics can provide a holistic view of a coastal area’s health.
How do I develop a successful indicator system?
While the process of developing indicator systems varies, key steps often include:
- Defining measurable goals and objectives.
- Devising a conceptual framework for organizing indicators and describing their operation.
- Establishing criteria for evaluating and selecting potential indicators.
- Identifying potential indicators and evaluating against selected criteria.
- Choosing final indicators. (See text on choosing indicators below.)
- Confirming that final indicators communicate intended message to the target audience or meet the intended need.
- Establishing baseline information.
- Tracking indicators and documenting methods for calculating and verifying indicators.
What are common criteria for choosing indicators?
Choosing coastal indicators that give an accurate representation of the “big picture” on a coast is no easy task. There is often debate as to which indicators are the most telling, relevant, and important. Additionally, use of indicators may be misleading in some instances. For example, a typical coastal indicator such as water clarity may be a poor choice to measure the health of an area where high biological productivity and other factors produce naturally turbid (unclear) conditions.
Many different criteria have been proposed for selecting meaningful and reliable indicators of the health of coastal resources, including:
- Achievability – Indicators should have implementation and collection methods that are feasible with available resources and intellectual capital.
- Data availability – Indicators should be supported by data that is readily available, adequately documented, and regularly updated.
- Meaningfulness – Indicators should reflect a concern or value of the audience.
- Measurability – Indicators should be quantifiable.
- Relevance – Indicators should address the issues at hand.
- Reliability – Indicators should be a trustworthy proxy for a related ecosystem characteristic, based on scientific credibility or previous observations.
- Sensitivity- Indicators should be responsive to changes in the environment and human activities.
- Specificity – Indicators should have a clear representation of the ecosystem characteristic they are intended to reflect.
- Timeliness – Indicators should provide timely information, allowing time to act.
- Trackability - Indicator should be based on data that is collected at regular time intervals using consistent methodology over a long period of time.
- Understandability – Indicators should be easily understood by the audience, including those who are not experts.
Many sources agree that the indicators included in a system should be few in number because application of too many indicators minimizes their usefulness, results in a lack of focus, and may actually become counter-productive. Equally ineffective is the use of indicators that are vague or largely introspective. In selecting a suite of criteria for determining the most useful set of indicators, the user should assess the purpose of their indicator effort to decide which criteria are most appropriate.
How can the Coastal Indicators Information Exchange assist me with choosing and using indicators?
The Coastal Indicators Information Exchange provides the below tools to assist in choosing and using indicators:
- Information on coastal indicator efforts active at transnational, national, resource-specific, and state scales.
- An index of resources on the development, implementation, and use of coastal indicators.