You are here:
National and Regional FEGS Metrics and Indicators 2016 Workshop Report
Citation:
Hall, K. National and Regional FEGS Metrics and Indicators 2016 Workshop Report. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-17/189, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
Final Ecosystem Goods and Services (FEGS) are the features of ecosystems valued by people. Metrics and indicators of National and regional scale FEGS could be utilized in a variety of applications. These applications fall into three main categories: 1) Social Analysis, for example trade-off analysis including, cost effectiveness analysis etc.; Green GDP accounting; non-market valuation studies; informing ecological production functions and monitoring programs 2) Communication, for example reports to congress, status and trends reports; and communication with the pubic and policy makers. 3) Defining management objectives and predictive modeling, for example in model identification for decision analysis. 4) Setting the requirements for ecological modeling and monitoring. This document distills proceeding of a workshop that refined a methodology for scientists to use in the identification and reporting of FEGS metrics and indicators. This report contributes to SHC 2.61.2.
Description:
Final ecosystem goods and services (FEGS) are the features of ecosystems directly valued by people. Metrics and indicators that describe the state of FEGS to non-experts and beneficiaries with salience and meaning facilitate effective communication and social analysis. This report covers work conducted at a National and Regional FEGS Metrics and Indicators Workshop conducted in Portland, OR on July 16th -18th, 2016. The purpose of the 2016 FEGS workshop was to: 1) define biophysical metrics and indicators that are more directly relevant to human welfare and experience (i.e. FEGS); 2) identify the gaps preventing scientists from defining welfare-relevant biophysical measures; and 3) review and refine a proposed methodology to support the development of welfare relevant metrics and indicators. The proceedings of the workshop have been distilled in this report.
