Digitalization in Environmental Monitoring

[suchona.kani.z]

Politics and administration rely on compact information. If reality is too complex, it is reduced to comparable numbers, so-called indicators. This blog post examines the process of digitization in the collection of raw data on site for two indicators.

Hard Facts for Big Politics
In order to make qualified decisions and assess the success of measures, politicians and administrators rely on compact information. Complex issues must be reduced to meaningful figures. To do this, a large number of indicators are regularly updated. Indicators summarize empirical data and depict reality in an understandable form. They are indispensable for showing successes and failures in achieving goals.

This blog post presents the data basis for two typical indicators. One is used at EU level, the other has been in use in Germany for 20 years. The focus is not on the results, but on the question of how the raw data is created at the very beginning of the processing chain.


A European indicator
The Biodiversity Strategy 2030 was published by the European peru consumer email list Commission two years ago. It contains ambitious goals to restore and protect European ecosystems.

To monitor success, the European Environment Agency has developed the so-called SEBI indicators . SEBI stands for “Streamlining European Biodiversity Indicators” and means that a representative selection of 26 indicators from the large number of internationally used indicators has been specified and made usable for processes at European level. The SEBI indicators are also incorporated into national, European and global strategies for the conservation of biodiversity.

One of the SEBI indicators is called “ Abundance and Distribution of Selected Species ”. Its data basis is provided by the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS). A regional organization from each EU country supplies its current data to PECBMS. In Germany, monitoring is coordinated by the German Association of Avifaunists (DDA). Two programs are included in the indicator:

monitoring of common breeding birds
monitoring of rare breeding birds
A German indicator
The sustainability strategy for Germany was adopted by the federal government in 2002 and has been regularly developed since then. It currently includes a set of 75 indicators.