Citation:

O'Connell, M. AND E R. Smith. GUIDED TOUR OF A WEB-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION TOOLKIT. Presented at Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium, Denver, CO, September 20-24, 2004.

Impact/Purpose:

ReVA's program objectives are to:

Provide regional-scale, spatially explicit information on the extent and distribution of both stressors and sensitive resources.

Develop and evaluate techniques to integrate information on exposure and effects so that relative risk can be assessed and management actions can be prioritized.

Predict consequences of potential environmental changes under alternative future scenarios.

Effectively communicate economic and quality of life trade-offs associated with alternative environmental policies.

Develop techniques to prioritize areas for ecological restoration.

Identify information gaps and recommend actions to improve monitoring and focus research.

Description:

Decision-making regarding the targeting of vulnerable resources and prioritization of actions requires synthesis of data on condition, vulnerability, and feasibility of risk management alternatives. EP A's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReV A) Program has evaluated existing and newly developed integration methods in terms of 1) how well each individual method performs given issues that are encountered with existing data, and 2) how effectively each method addresses different types of assessment questions that are fundamental to multi-criteria decision-making. Results of this research can be used to synthesize existing data at any spatial scale into indices that reflect the sustainability of valued resources as well as indicators reflecting human health vulnerability and quality of life. When combined with projection of changes in stressor distributions, this information can be used to target areas for protection, outreach, and partnerships in order to minimize negative impacts of decisions and optimize among opportunities.

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