Final Report (2001-EEA/DS-10-M2) - Finn et al.
Summary: The aim of this study was to identify and select quantitative environmental attributes for a monitoring programme that may be integrated into an environmental evaluation of Ireland’s agri–environmental scheme.
This report reviews a range of agri– environmental indicators and suggests indicators that would be appropriate for monitoring the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS). The study aimed to identify and select environmental indicators for a monitoring programme that may be integrated into an environmental evaluation of Ireland’s agrienvironmental scheme.
This was achieved primarily by reviewing a range of agrienvironmental indicators and suggesting indicators that would be appropriate to REPS.
For each of the categories landscape, biodiversity and agronomy, indicators were selected according to three tiers (basic, moderate and advanced) that correspond to differences in the rigour, quality or requirements of the following issues: data availability; expertise required; logistical effort; quality of information, and; validity of causal mechanisms.
Consultation with selected stakeholders indicated quite widespread agreement that the selected indicators reflected the environmental performance that would be expected from the REPS. This study discussed the interdependent relationship among agri-environmental scheme design and objective-setting, selection of indicators, monitoring and evaluation.
If the selected agri-environmental indicators (or others) are to be used to monitor the environmental performance of the REPS, then this study clearly highlighted the importance of identifying specific and measurable performance targets for chosen indicators.
