Ingen lysbildetittel

1
Points made in discussions

• What interests and values in the landscape do we
  want to monitor?
• Integrated landscape approach takes account of
  different landscape functions, such as
• social e.g. cultural heritage, landscape
  aesthetics
• economic e.g. agriculture, tourism
• ecological e.g. biodiversity, soil quality
• Land cover is not landscape
• Desire to monitor future changes, even though
  these may be difficult to predict
• What are the demands from decision-makers?
• May change according to political agendas
• May be conflicts between different decision
  makers

2

• What is an indicator?
• A variable that tells us something about a value
  of interest
• An index is a mathematical relationship - an
  index may be used as an indicator, but not all
  indicators are indices
• Alternative interpretation An index is an
  aggregate expression of two or more indicators.
• Some variables may be indicators for several
  values (multi-purpose)
• What are the criteria for successful indicators?
• Simplification objectivity
• communication repeatability sensitivity to
  change
• quantification transparency

3
What are the limitations to producing indicators
from image data? Qualitative data are difficult
to extract e.g. Habitat quality, landscape
aesthetics Pattern can be derived but not always
process Indicators must be validated from other
data sources How should we express indicator
results to different users? Do we need
environmental journalists to translate for the
scientists? One set of indicators for scientists,
one for politicians? but then the scientists
have to make the value judgements! One
conclusion we need better dialogue between
scientists and politicians
4
New topics for discussion
What is the role of a landscape typology? - as
an indicator in its own right? - as a
background for reporting indicators? How do
actual indicators fulfil the criteria for good
indicators? Indicator diagrams as a means of
communicating complex landscape change Indicator
profiles showing relationships according to e.g.
the DPSIR framework