Information
- Type
- Conference/Workshop
- Name
- ICES Symposium - Environmental Indicators : Utility in Meeting Regularity Needs
- Location
- Brunei Gallery, Russel Square, London
- Start date
- 2007-11-20
- End date
- 2007-11-23
- Organizer email
- symposium2007.secretariat@cefas.co.uk
- Notes
- The employment of environmental indicators to simplify the communication of trends to regulators has a long and chequered history, none more so than in the area of marine science. Presently, there is renewed impetus for indicator development arising from global initiatives on sustainable development, climate change and the conservation of biodiversity, and regional incentives such as the evolution of an ecosystem approach to marine environmental management. Distinctive features of current effort include a shift of emphasis towards evaluations of the biological consequences of human activities, and towards the wider employment of indicators as explicit enforcement tools in the regulatory process.
This Symposium will anticipate the translation of a number of current initiatives on indicator development into pilot or operational use within a regulatory framework, for example, under OSPAR and EU ('Water Framework' Directive) auspices. It is therefore designed to offer a timely and strategic insight into the current status and likely future direction of the activity. While the symposium will seek to address promising new developments, emphasis will also be placed on practical applications to date. Every effort will be made to permit a realistic evaluation of progress, for example, by encouraging presentations on case studies which don't appear to work, as well as those which do. The aim will be to check performance and comparability both within and across disciplines and on various geographical scales, in order to allow recommendations to be made on the employment of indicators as tools to underpin effective environmental management.