Issue: Societal responses to direct pressures of human activities on coasts and oceans - Responses to pressures of coastal activities
This is an issue under the Coasts and oceans theme of the Data Reporting System.
Why we need to know about this issue
In order to know whether societal responses to environmental problems are proving effective, it is important to measure both reductions in impacts which follow human actions aimed at reducing pressures and, where there has been insufficient time for such actions to translate into environmental improvements, to measure the extent of implementation of responses which are intended to have these effects.
Indicators
- CO-41 Changes in coastal area under NRM or other environmental plans
National responses take a long time to translate into changes of condition. Although they can translate into changes in both the occurrence and intensity of the pressures in a much shorter time, monitoring prior to their introduction might not have been adequate for any change to show in the data. As response indicators, the fact of introduction of a national plan and strategy provides a date from which change in the pressure and the condition can be monitored. - CO-42 Area/volume/number of coastal lagoons and lakes protected from discharges or where discharges are managed
Discharges of pollutants into coastal lakes and lagoons can place significant pressure on the ecosystems in and around these water systems and ultimately on the ecosystems of coastal waters. Various measures are employed to protect these water courses from discharges. Surface area, volume of water, or, in the absence of any other measure, number of water bodies in some way protected from discharges is a crude physical measure of the effectiveness of the response.
Related issues
Key
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