2 Why Monitor?
One of the key messages which can be taken from State of New Zealand's Environment 1997 is that we need better information on our environment. Indicators are one form of information that can be collected on the environment. They are a measure against which aspects of policy performance can be addressed. The use of such a reference point allows us to gauge, among other things, the extent to which an objective is being met.
Road based transport by motor vehicles places some of the greatest transport related pressure on many aspects of our environment. It is therefore important to have direct measures related to the:
- volume of travel activity
- vehicle type used to undertake that activity
- conditions under which the travel activity occurs
- the purposes of travel.
The Environmental Indicators for Transport provide a basis to assess the pressure that New Zealand's transport activities place on the environment. This pressure information can be combined with other indicators such as Air and Water Quality indicators, which measure the state of our environment. Doing so provides a dynamic picture of our environment and the factors influencing it.
Armed with such information local, regional, and central government together with other resource management agencies will be able to:
- systematically measure the performance of environmental policies and legislation
- prioritise policy and improve decision making
- report systematically on the state of New Zealand's environment.
It is, however, important to recognise the difference between policy specific information needs and indicators. Although it is possible to develop an indicator set that provides specific information capable of addressing virtually all potential policy needs, such a set would be complex, expensive to collect and many indicator values would be used infrequently.
Indicators are just that, they are measures and data that provide an ongoing indication of trend and effects. If the indicators highlight specific issues, an analyst may then need to drill down to obtain information to answer a specific need. To ensure that this approach is viable the indicators must be flexible, consistent and practical.
