TY - JOUR

T1 - Key criteria for developing ecosystem service indicators to inform decision making

AU - van Oudenhoven, Alexander P.E.

AU - Schröter, Matthias

AU - Drakou, Evangelia G.

AU - Geijzendorffer, Ilse R.

AU - Jacobs, Sander

AU - van Bodegom, Peter M.

AU - Chazee, Laurent

AU - Czúcz, Bálint

AU - Grunewald, Karsten

AU - Lillebø, Ana I.

AU - Mononen, Laura

AU - Nogueira, António J.A.

AU - Pacheco-Romero, Manuel

AU - Perennou, Christian

AU - Remme, Roy P.

AU - Rova, Silvia

AU - Syrbe, Ralf Uwe

AU - Tratalos, Jamie A.

AU - Vallejos, María

AU - Albert, Christian

PY - 2018/12

Y1 - 2018/12

N2 - Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessments. Scientists have for long recognised the importance of selecting appropriate indicators. Yet, while the amount and variety of indicators developed by scientists seems to increase continuously, the extent to which the indicators truly inform decision makers is often unknown and questioned. In this viewpoint paper, we reflect and provide guidance on how to develop appropriate ES indicators for informing decision making, building on scientific literature and practical experience collected from researchers involved in seven case studies. We synthesized 16 criteria for ES indicator selection and organized them according to the widely used categories of credibility, salience, legitimacy (CSL). We propose to consider additional criteria related to feasibility (F), as CSL criteria alone often seem to produce indicators which are unachievable in practice. Considering CSLF together requires a combination of scientific knowledge, communication skills, policy and governance insights and on-field experience. In conclusion, we present a checklist to evaluate CSLF of your ES indicators. This checklist helps to detect and mitigate critical shortcomings in an early phase of the development process, and aids the development of effective indicators to inform actual policy decisions.

AB - Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessments. Scientists have for long recognised the importance of selecting appropriate indicators. Yet, while the amount and variety of indicators developed by scientists seems to increase continuously, the extent to which the indicators truly inform decision makers is often unknown and questioned. In this viewpoint paper, we reflect and provide guidance on how to develop appropriate ES indicators for informing decision making, building on scientific literature and practical experience collected from researchers involved in seven case studies. We synthesized 16 criteria for ES indicator selection and organized them according to the widely used categories of credibility, salience, legitimacy (CSL). We propose to consider additional criteria related to feasibility (F), as CSL criteria alone often seem to produce indicators which are unachievable in practice. Considering CSLF together requires a combination of scientific knowledge, communication skills, policy and governance insights and on-field experience. In conclusion, we present a checklist to evaluate CSLF of your ES indicators. This checklist helps to detect and mitigate critical shortcomings in an early phase of the development process, and aids the development of effective indicators to inform actual policy decisions.

KW - Credibility

KW - CSL

KW - Feasibility

KW - Legitimacy

KW - Salience

KW - Science-policy interface

KW - Ecosystems Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051376958&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.020

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.06.020

M3 - Comments / Debate / Reports

AN - SCOPUS:85051376958

VL - 95

SP - 417

EP - 426

JO - Ecological Indicators

JF - Ecological Indicators

SN - 1470-160X

ER -