1 Introduction
Monitoring of the environmental effects of transport has been piecemeal and often incidental. This situation has changed with an increased awareness that transport activity can have significant impacts on the New Zealand environment. The awareness of these impacts is especially recognised in the major urban areas. At a national level there have been, until recently, no initiatives to assess what monitoring is required and to ensure that a comprehensive set of environmental indicators for transport is developed.
The purpose of this report is to provide user-friendly guidance on the collection and use of transport indicators to allow consistency over time and within different organisations. Four indicators were selected following an extensive period of consultation with technical experts and key stakeholders.
This protocol outlines the methodologies reported on in the technical report Measuring Environmental Indicators for Transport (MfE, 2003) which were developed in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders and end users. The technical document outlines why these particular methods were chosen, the data assumptions of the methods and other detailed issues associated with the methods. This protocol provides the user with a step-by-step process for collecting, analysing, managing and presenting the indicator information.
The indicators discussed here form part of the Ministry for the Environment, Environmental Performance Indicator Programme (EPI).
1.1 What is an indicator?
Indicators, i.e. the repeated measurements of a variable, are used to detect change in relation to a benchmark, condition or guideline. Environmental indicators simplify, quantify and communicate trends to indicate the overall status of environmental issues. This information can then be used to assess the performance of our environmental policies and ultimately to achieve better environmental outcomes.
