1. Pavla Chyská Budapest 12 November 2004
EEA Water indicators Core set and candidate indicators under development
Pavla Chyská
Budapest 12 November 2004

2. Core set and candidate indicators under development
You will learn about ...
1) Core set indicators: what, why, how, when
2) New format of indicator profile
3) On-line indicator management service

3. What do we mean by a core set?
A core set of indicators is in essence a set of story lines by theme/sector, clusters of indicators by theme/sector grouped by policy questions, and cross-reading tables showing the inter-linkages between indicators across themes/sectors.
It implies the production of a limited number of indicators that are necessary to monitor and to guide policies, such as sectoral integration and thematic strategies.
The core set does not need to address all details of all policies, but can either address issues on an aggregate level or focus on current priorities.

4. The purpose of Core Set of Indicators
to provide a stable and manageable basis for indicator reporting by EEA (EEA Signals)
to prioritise improvements in data quality from countries to European level
to streamline contributions to other indicator initiatives (eg structural indicators)
in doing so, to strengthen environmental dimension alongside economic and social dimensions

5. EEA core set of indicators
History (1)
The EEA and ETCs have been working since the beginning of the 2001 ETC subventions on the development of core sets of indicators for environmental themes.
In parallel, work has been ongoing inside the Agency on the development of core sets of indicators for sectors.

6. EEA core set of indicators
History (2)
1st phase
 July 2002:
400 indicators relevant to policy objectives and distributed across DPSIR
submitted for country consultation
2nd phase.
 May 2003:
350 indicators relevant to policy objectives and distributed across DPSIR
3rd phase.
 March 2004:
37 indicators relevant to policy targets and data availability finally chosen and approved by EEA Management Board.
Wide consultation with EIONET community

7. Getting from 350 to 37 The criteria (1)
Be policy relevant - support EU policies’ priority issues of increasing policy relevance (on the basic of available EU policy documentation, DG environment work programme..)
Monitor progress toward the quantified targets (if there is no targets, then use thresholds)
Be based on ready available and routinely collected data for EEA countries within specified timescale (to be determined country by country) at reasonable cost-benefit ratio

8. Getting from 350 to 37 The criteria (2)
Be consistent in space coverage and cover all or most of EEA countries
Time coverage – sufficient/insufficient time trends (exemptions of general nature to be verified – e.g. situation of candidate countries)
Primarily be national in scale and representative for countries (countries benchmarking)
Be understandable and simple
Be conceptually and methodologically well founded and representative (to be used by at least one community or international organization) and on the bases of well established consultation with countries

9. Getting from 350 to 37 The criteria (3)
Be of priority in EEA management plan
Be timely (be produced in reasonable and “useful” time)
Be well documented and of known quality

10. 2004: Number of CSI per topic
Air quality (6)
Ozone depletion (1)
Climate change (4)
Biodiversity (4)
Terrestrial (2)
Water (7)
Waste (2)
Agriculture (2)
Energy (5)
Fishery (3)
Transport (3)
Total: 37
Total W&F: 10

11. W&F: Core set indicators
Water
Use of freshwater resources
Nutrients in freshwater
Nutrients in TCM waters
Oxygen consuming substances in rivers
Fisheries
Fishing fleet capacity
Status of marine fish stock
Aquaculture production (not updated in 2004)
Chlorophyll in TCM waters
Bathing water quality
Urban WW treatment

12. W&F: Candidate indicators
Water
Hazardous substances in groundwater
Hazardous substances in rivers
Hazardous substances in lakes
Hazardous substances in transitional, coastal and marine waters
Hazardous substances in marine organisms
Introduced species in marine and coastal waters

13. 2004: Changes in EEA indicator management
Essential task - CSI requires regular reviews of content to ensure quality criteria
New indicator profile replaced the factsheets in 2004 indicator update
Indicator management servis designed to handle CSI profiles in 2004

14. New indicator profile (1)
Designed to underpin the quality of indicator metadata and the automated processes (IMS)
Concept: CSI presented at 2 levels – European and national (countries benchmarking)
Content: 2 parts – specification (recipe) and assessment (dish)

15. Example Dish 1 Dish 2 S2004 A2005 A2004 Recipe
Ingredient A
Ingredient B
Ingredient C
Ingrendients
Two assessments based on the same specification
S2004
A2005
A2004
Dataset 2003
Dataset 2004
Data sources

16. New indicator profile (2)
Specification: static, contains the metadata for the indicator
used by Management Board to ensure relevance and quality of CSI
used by countries to evaluate reporting burden of indicator
used by other organisations for capacity building and to avoid overlap
Assessment: dynamic, contains the calculated indicator + message
updated after each data cycle
compilation according to specification
departure from specification needs explanation

17. Why on-line indicator management service?
Avoids ”fat” Word documents (a standard webbrowser is enough)
Automates processes
Integrates with other web-based services
Publishing easy and flexible
Concentrate on content rather than layout details
Generate reports on-line: follow progress and act quickly
Not loose know-how when somebody is away
Share and see what others are doing

18. IMS – on-line tool for managing indicator processes
Development
Regular calculation & assessment
Review
Publication

19. Water core set and candidate indicators in 2005
February: publishing CSI on the web
June: first CSI review by EEA Management Board (new proposals - candidates, modifications, cancellations)
In cooperation with NFP/Eionet!

20. Changes in the next country review process
Only 7+3 CSI and 6 candidates
CSI: New indicator profile
Candidates: „old“ factsheets
IMS or CIRCA – not yet decided
EEA feedback to your comments

21. Relevant points for Eionet Water
EEA Water Core set indicators
Relevant points for Eionet Water
More effective use of data
Substantial improvement in indicator metadata quality (new profile)
CSI presented at both European and country levels
Use the country review process to submit general comments and suggestions (uncertainity, future work)
Communicate with your NFP to ensure that the important messages are passed on

22. EEA Water Core set indicators
Summary
CSI stable but not static – annual review process
Known quality
European and national level presentation (country benchmarking)
New indicator profile (static metadata + dynamic assessment)
On-line management (incl. country review)
CSI quality depends on your cooperation!