The objective of this section of the country profile is to present the user with information and data on a wide range of environmental indictors relevant to each country. At the international level there are a number of different initiatives on environmental indicators and many national environmental authorities are also engaged in similar initiatives from country down to city level.

Environmental indicators are measures of the state of and pressures on the environment. Their aim is to raise awareness of the environment and show progress towards sustainable development (Uk Env Agency). They are powerful tools that serve many purposes, useful as tools for performance evaluation and public information.  Indicators inform both the decision-maker and the general public about environmental trends over time. To be effective, an indicator must be:

• Relevant, able to show you something about the system that you need to know.

• Easy to understand, even by people who are not experts.

• Reliable, so the information the indicator provides is trustworthy.

• Timely, so the information is available while there is still time to act.

It is also important to associate a target with an indicator. For example, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Under Kyoto, the European Union must reduce its greenhouse gas output by eight percent of 1990 levels by the five-year period 2008-2012.

When the Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1998, UNEP's press release summarized it as an agreement under which industrialized countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this target represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs- calculated as an average over the five-year period of 2008-12. National targets range from 8% reductions for the European Union and some others to 7% for the US, 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and permitted increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland."

UN Millenium Development Goals

Similarily, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also set targets against which progress on the implementation of the goals can be measured using agreed indicators. Goal 7 of the MDGs addresses environmental sustainability. The set targets and underlying indicators are as follows:

Millenium Development Goals: Regional Groupings

Goal 7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9.
Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources

Indicators
25. Proportion of land area covered by forest (FAO)
26. Ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity to surface area (UNEP-WCMC)
27. Energy use (kg oil equivalent) per $1,000 GDP (PPP) (IEA, World Bank)
28. Carbon dioxide emissions per capita (UNFCCC, UNSD) and consumption of ozone-depleting CFCs (ODP tons) (UNEP-Ozone Secretariat)
29. Proportion of population using solid fuels (WHO)

Target 10.
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation

Indicators
30.Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural (UNICEF-WHO)
31. Proportion of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural (UNICEF-WHO)

Target 11.
By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

Indicators
32.Proportion of households with access to secure tenure (UN-HABITAT)

The demands from the multilateral system for country-level environmental data, information and indicators have been growing over the last few decades. It is however, often difficult for countries to develop and maintain the necessary capacity to meet these increasing demands. Data collection is a long-term process, requiring careful planning and adequate resources. The data collection process needs to be repeated at regular intervals on the same basis, so that consistent data can be obtained for a number of years and can be used to examine trends, derive indicators and support assessment and reporting. Poorly coordinated and designed requests for data of low legitimacy serve to confuse authorities at country level and are likely to result in less, not more, data being made available at international level.

In an attempt to stabilise, structure and harmonise data demands, the work programme of the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) has included the development of concepts and methods in environment statistics since the mid-1980s and data collection since the late 1990s. For the first time, the 2004 data collection on environment statistics was carried out jointly with UNEP. In addition to making the questionnaire more responsive to the needs for global environment reporting, a close collaboration with UNEP on the core database for the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO), the GEO Data Portal, as well as related data compendia was agreed. Data for a selected number of key variables has been made available on the UNSD web site (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/environment/default.htm). In the long run, it is expected that the central availability of a set of environment statistics will reduce direct data requests to countries and reduce the reporting burden.

Global intergovernmental initiatives

UNEP's Global Environment Outlook Year Book series of reports presents a core set of indictors on an annual basis. The set of GEO indicators gives a compact, illustrated overview of global trends in major issues related to the environment, depicting changes over the last years. The selected data are a mix of environmental pressures, states, impacts and responses.

The overall data situation continues to improve steadily - if slowly - although many data gaps and shortcomings still persist. The availability of data on threatened species and ozone depleting substances has significantly improved recently. Many data sets have been updated during the year - including the use of energy resources, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, protected areas and catch of living marine resources. Others are updated on a more occasional basis. Currently the most problematic data are those for consumption and quality of freshwater, household and other wastes, urban air pollution, forest cover change, land degradation, and data related to coastal and marine areas.

The graphics incorporate the most recent year for which data are available. Compared to the GEO Year Book 2003, indicators have been added for renewable energy supply, consumption of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and methyl bromide, marine protected areas, freshwater quality and urban air pollution. The indicators for use of freshwater and forest cover were not included this year, because there are no new comprehensive data available.

In the course of 2004, the set of GEO indicators was reviewed as part of an assessment of sustainability indicators by a consortium of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), UNEP, the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) and the European Environment Agency. Where possible, the recommendations of the review have been reflected in the current key set.

The indicators are grouped by thematic areas and environmental issues. Where appropriate the corresponding indicator for the environmental targets of the Goals in the Millennium Declaration is given. Definitions of terms used, information sources and technical notes are provided in an Annex. The data are presented at the global, regional and, in a few cases, sub-regional level, based on the regional classification used in the GEO assessment (UNEP 2002). All data and documentation have been extracted from the GEO Data Portal, which holds the reference database for use in the GEO assessment and reporting process (http://geodata.grid.unep.ch/).

The indicators are classified under eight overarching themes:

• ATMOSPHERE
• NATURAL DISASTERS
• FORESTS
• BIODIVERSITY
• COASTAL AND MARINE AREAS
• FRESHWATER
• URBAN AREAS
• GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Regional intergovernmental initiatives

There are also a number of regional indicators initiatives.

In Europe, the European Environment Agency (EEA) publishes the Environmental Signals series of reports aimed at high-level policy-makers in EEA member countries and the European Union. The main aim is to present key environmental indicators in order to report, on a regular and consistent basis, on progress in a number of policy areas at the European level. The report also presents a benchmark of countries' performance ('name and shame, name and fame'). The EEA's annual survey of environmental trends in its member countries covers aspects of agriculture, water pollution, nature protection, packaging waste, energy, transport, air pollution and climate change. It also provides an environmental perspective on the economic and social situation in Europe, including trends in demography and resource use, in the context of progress towards sustainability. The 2004 report is available here: http://reports.eea.eu.int/signals-2004/en

Together with its member countries, the OECD has established a common approach and framework for developing, measuring and using environmental indicators: the OECD Core Set and its core environmental indicators (CEI); several sets of sectoral environmental indicators (SEI) (e.g. transport, energy); a small set of key environmental indicators (KEI).

The South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) www.sopac.orghas developed an environmental vulnerability index (EVI) which provides a relatively quick and inexpensive way of characterising the vulnerability of natural systems (at the level of a region, state, province or island). The common basis on which the index is developed will therefore allow comparisons.

National, district and city level

Numerous national, state, county, district and city level environmental indicators initiatives have been launched by national and local authorities in various countries. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manages the "Environmental Indicators Initiative" to improve the Agency's ability to report on the status of and trends in environmental conditions and their impacts on human health and the nation's natural resources. See http://www.epa.gov/indicators/abouteii.htm

In Australia, the Government has developed a set of indicators at the national level in an attempt to standardise the reporting process across Australia. A comprehensive suite of key environmental indicators (http://www.deh.gov.au/ soe/ publications/envindicators.html) was developed by independent experts for each environmental theme, from which a set of core indicators (http://www.deh.gov.au/soe/publications/coreindicators.html) were selected. The national core indicators, wherever possible, are included in a SoE Report to allow comparability between jurisdictions and data sharing between local, state and federal government. Additional indicators are then included according to the particular reporting requirements of a jurisdiction.

For example, in South Australia seven themes are used: atmosphere, inland waters, coasts and marine, land resources, biodiversity, human settlements as well as natural and cultural heritage. Issues are the main topics of concern within each of the themes. For example, under the atmosphere theme, the major issues are air quality, ozone depletion and the enhanced greenhouse effect.

For each issue, environmental indicatorsare used to measure the condition of the environment with respect to that particular issue. Environmental indicators help track changes in the environment. They are key measures to illustrate trends and changes within a system. Indicators simplify the reporting process. They can be measured and reported on frequently and their information can be gathered and interpreted in a uniform manner. When applying the PSR Model (or adaptations of the model) there are three types of indicators:

• Pressure indicators - describe the pressures from human activity that affect the environment.

• State (or condition) indicators - measure the quality of the environment and the functioning of important environmental processes.

• Response indicators - identify the human actions or efforts that have been made to address pressures on the environment.

The UNEP/GRID-Arendal Cities Environment Reports on the Internet (CEROI) Programme works within the framework of Local Agenda 21 to facilitate access to environmental information for sound decision-making and general awareness-raising in cities. See http://www.ceroi.net/. The final report for the European Common Indicators project summarizes the outcome of the two-year process to define and use a common setof indicators for European local authorities.

Non-Governmental initiatives

Some non-governmental indicator initiatives are also well known.

Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University in collaboration with Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the World Economic Forum has developed the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) that benchmarks the ability of nations to protect the environment over the next several decades. It does so by integrating 76 data sets - tracking natural resource endowments, past and present pollution levels, environmental management efforts, and the capacity of a society to improve its environmental performance - into 21 indicators of environmental sustainability.

Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)

These indicators permit comparison across a range of issues that fall into the following

five broad categories:

• Environmental Systems

• Reducing Environmental Stresses

• Reducing Human Vulnerability to Environmental Stresses

• Societal and Institutional Capacity to Respond to Environmental Challenges

• Global Stewardship

The indicators and variables on which they are constructed build on the well-established "Pressure-State-Response" environmental policy model.

The Global Footprint Network is committed to fostering a world where all people have the opportunity to live satisfying lives within the means of Earth's ecological capacity. We are dedicated to advancing the scientific rigor and practical application of the Ecological Footprint, a tool that quantifies human demand on nature, and nature's capacity to meet these demands. Created in 1993, the Ecological Footprint is now in wide use by governments, communities, and businesses to monitor current ecological resource balances and to plan for the future. The Ecological Footprint http://www.footprintnetwork.org is a resource management tool that measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes under prevailing technology.