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GUIDELINES TO ASSESSING REGIONAL VULNERABILITIES
Citation:
SMITH, E. R., M. H. MEHAFFEY, R. O'Neil, T. G. WADE, J. V. KILARU, AND L. Tran. GUIDELINES TO ASSESSING REGIONAL VULNERABILITIES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-08/078 (NTIS PB2009-100858), 2008.
Impact/Purpose:
ReVA methodology establishes a platform that can help environmental decision-makers target limited resources and enable proactive decision-making. ReVA has a broad spatial perspective, uses existing data, and applies an integrated approach to assessment; it can incorporate large, disparate sources of available spatial data on resources, environmental conditions, and stressors, and then visually express these conditions (or combinations of these conditions) in map form. ReVA methods also allow users to prepare “what if” scenarios; these scenarios permit inspection of likely future changes in environmental vulnerabilities, given user-determined inputs on anticipated regional changes in factors such as population growth, economic conditions, land use, transportation infrastructure, etc. ReVA can improve the environmental decision-making process by permitting more realistic inputs for environmental decisionmaking and by expressing results of multiple factors at a regional spatial scale. Since 1998, much of the research effort within the ReVA program has focused on the mechanics of how data and model results can be integrated into meaningful indices designed to address specific assessment questions posed by environmental decision-makers. The approach developed by the ReVA program allows decision-makers to evaluate current conditions and vulnerabilities through the use of indices. This approach allows an evaluation of net change, so that the user can visualize how both positive and negative changes affect future conditions and vulnerabilities.
Description:
Decision-makers today face increasingly complex environmental problems that require integrative and innovative approaches for analyzing, modeling, and interpreting various types of information. ReVA acknowledges this need and is designed to evaluate methods and models for synthesizing diverse kinds of available information on the distribution of stressors and sensitive ecological resources. As with any study, the first and probably most important step is to establish a clear goal. For ReVA, the goal is to develop and demonstrate approaches that use existing data to evaluate current and future conditions and vulnerabilities of valued resources (native biodiversity, water quality, forest productivity, etc.) resulting from ecological drivers of change and later, management alternatives.