Information and Advisory Note Number 42                                                Back to menu

State of the Environment Review and Reporting

1. Introduction

1.1 The aim of this Information and Advisory Note is to introduce State of the Environment Review and Reporting (SOERR) and to describe some of the key aspects of the reporting process and outputs. SOERR is likely to have an increasing role in the planning and management of the natural heritage at both the national, local and even international level SNH staff may find themselves becoming increasingly involved.

1.2 State of the Environment Reports (SOER) have been around since the mid 1980s, at scales from the global, national regional down to local levels (DoE, OECD, Canada). Increased interest by local authorities has recently been stimulated by Local Agenda 21. In Scotland examples to date are the SOERs published by the Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link (1991), Falkirk District Council (1992), Fife Regional Council (1994) and Western Isles Island Council (1994/95). The Scottish Office publishes a biennial Environmental Statistics report. Scottish Natural Heritage has itself published an overview of the natural heritage of Scotland (SNH 1995).

2. What is State of the Environment Review and Reporting (SOERR)?

2.1 SOERR is a process of analysing, reviewing, describing and presenting summary information It focuses on

• the condition of the environment and natural resources,
• the nature of changes and trends,
• the processes and human activities that lead to pressures (positive and negative); and
• the significance of the consequential effects and issues.

2.2 It can extend to defining the type of action or responses required and the setting of targets. Some SOERs have deliberately provided the bare facts, leaving the interpretation and definition of action to others parties or mechanisms outwith SOERR.

2.3 Usually the term SOER (or less frequently SOTER) is used to refer to the state of the environment report that is produced periodically. Increasingly the process of reviewing is seen to be as important as the final report itself Growing interest in stakeholder participation recognises the need to ensure commitment to, and broad ownership of, the outputs. The review and updating of SOERs enables comparisons to be made against previous information, existing baselines and targets, and thus to evaluate progress towards environmental objectives.

2.4 Many of the SOERs in the UK to date have been undertaken by local authorities, and are often referred to as an 'environmental audits' This may be confusing because of other local authority auditing initiatives (e.g. Green Charters and Policy Impact Assessments) The Local Government Management Board (LGMB 1991) defined SOERs as external environmental audits and the other forms of auditing as internal audits.

3. What is the purpose of SOERR?

3.1 The overall aim has 3 elements:

• to create and present an overview of the state, quality, health or condition of environmental resources within a particular geographical or administrative area;
• to raise awareness of environmental resources, trends, usage, pressures and issues; and
• to provide information that can be used to stimulate responses in the form of debate, improved decision making and action

3.2 This aim has a number of objectives:

• to act as a focus to inform the public and to influence policy makers by identifying key issues;
• to form the initial baselines against which to measure future change,
• to provide a basis for integrating, synthesising, interpreting and reviewing information and to present this information in an accessible way to a wide audience;
• to contribute to the process of integrating environmental interests into socioeconomic decision making,
• to enable progress towards targets and sustainable development to be evaluated; and
• to make recommendations for action

4. What are the benefits of undertaking SOERR?

4.1 The process of review and preparing SOERs is a valuable mechanism to:

• bring together key data holders, researchers, policy makers, the public and other stakeholders;
• create, perhaps for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the environmental resources, based on reliable and objective data;
• encourage data sharing and the collation of information that would otherwise be dispersed and difficult to access,
• identify gaps in currently available information and issues for further research and monitoring, and
• contribute to environmental education.

4.2 The SOER report itself is a valuable tool for providing:

• an information source for a range of applications (e.g. development planning, strategic environmental appraisal of policies, plans and programmes and for environmental audits),
• a basis for more informed planning, management and decision making;
• knowing where the problems and potential of an area he,
• increasing debate about the environment and sustainable development issues;
• context for predicting and assessing the impacts of individual developments and cumulative impacts;
• information on key stakeholders, their interests and roles, and
• promotion of the local identity of the area covered by a report

5. What is the scope of an SOER and how is it structured?

5.1 SOERs vary from documents in the form of statistical compendiums to reports which provide full descriptive accounts and interpretation. SOERs are often structured , in varying levels of detail, around a set of core themes (Table 1)
 

5.2 A balance is needed between achieving comprehensive coverage and reporting on matters that are significant Using information just because it is available may not be effective This scoping of information involves prioritisation based on relevance, interpretation and judgement. Good practice generally involves an incremental approach towards deeper and wider reporting coverage over time Success depends on the frequency and availability of monitoring information. New issues emerge which may require particular emphasis Some which were prominent may become less so.

5.3 The most effective SOERs use a more strategic framework within which to order themes The Pressure - State - Response (PSR) model developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency It was further refined by OECD and is now widely recognised as a tool for evaluating and reporting on environmental performance of policies and actions The PSR model assists in moving from a somewhat passive towards a more useful type of report, which is more likely improve decision making and action. The model is based on causality in broad terms:

• Pressure - the natural processes and human activities that create environmental stress (positive and negative) which are reflected in changes of state;
• State - the condition and trends in the environmental media and resources, including the quantity, quality, distribution, location, pattern, stability, carrying capacity and inter-relationships; and
• Response - the policies, decisions and actions (including perceptions, altitudes, and behaviour) taken to enhance positive changes, reduce negative changes, or maintain favourable conditions.

5.4 Responses can be designed to affect either the environmental states or pressures or both It is usually more effective to alter pressures. The most effective SOERs highlight environmental potential, problems and issues and also present a balance of pressure, state and response information. An overemphasis on state information would not guide appropriate responses to the key pressures. By including accounts of
responses aimed at protecting, conserving and enhancing the environment, the SOER enables readers to examine and evaluate the environmental performance of polices, decisions and actions.

6. Indicators and targets

Indicators have an important role to play in SOERR. They represent selected measurements on key aspects or dimensions of the environment A limited number are generally chosen to show how and why the environmental media and resources are changing. The use of indicators is made more effective if a suite is defined to cover state, pressure and response information, and if they are reported on against related targets, environmental standards or objectives. The nature, rate and direction of progress can be assessed. The use of indicators may reduce the amount of information gathering required. Care is required in selecting appropriate indicators fit for purpose. Also too few will not give the required overall impression of the state of the environment, too many will clutter the overview

7. How are SOERs put together (the process)?

SOERs have been variously produced by in-house staff, dedicated teams, contractors or a mixture of these options Different approaches have their own merits Good practice includes consultation on draft reports and indicator development. Best practice involves wider active participation of external parties and consensus building in the various stages of SOERR. There are many potential stakeholders with different roles to play and who will have an interest in SOERs They may wish to contribute through data provision, interpretation, exchange of views and concerns, and in influencing the scope and format of the SOER outputs. Engagement of stakeholders in the SOERR process, through fora workshops and other participative mechanisms, can lead to better understanding and to a common ownership of the SOER, or at least to show how the information being communicated relates to them. This wider approach involves significant effort and time to establish and maintain.

8. Data and information

A guiding principle of SOERs is to use best available information. Adequate referencing should allow the user to trace data used and to assess data strengths and weaknesses. SOERs usually rely on the collation of information from a large number of sources. They do not depend on establishing a single, large, centralised database, although this expensive and complex approach has been adopted by some They can more usefully be prepared through access to dispersed data and information. It is generally more effective for the data custodians to provide summaries of their data and interpretation than for those collating the SOER material to attempt to do so. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been used for SOERR for data integration, analysis and the presentation of distribution maps.

9. What are the outputs of SOERR?

9.1 The main output usually consists of a report published periodically (1-5 years), although only a few have yet undertaken repeat reports (le OECD, Canada). There are a number of factors to be considered in frequency of reporting

• the obligations, political or legislative, to report;
• the rate of environmental change;
• the frequency of monitoring information;
• the reporting resources available; and
• the stakeholder demand

9.2 Interim supplementary reports, based on particular themes or issues, have also been produced to allow new items to be reported Some reports have provided questionnaires to enable users to give feedback and raise issues that they feel should be covered in future reporting. Other publishing media for communicating information have been applied, including displays, videos, cassettes, interactive computer products for schools and public locations, and the development of Internet pages.

10. What might SNH's role be in SOERR?

From the above, it should be apparent that SOERR has an important role in assisting everyone in working towards either sustainable development, environmental or natural heritage objectives SNH has a number of potential roles in relation to SOERR

• provision of advice on scope and issues covered by SOER,
• provision of data, information and interpretation,
• commenting on draft material,
• membership of fora and partnerships for developing SOERR;
• contribution of part funding and
• strategic policy development and promotion to support SOERR as a key part of environmental planning and management.

11. What guidance is available on SOERR?

Guidance has been published by LGMB (1991) and COSLA (1992) DoE and LGMB are currently producing further guidance, to be released imminently A project commissioned by the Countryside Commission, SNH and the Countryside Council for Wales has looked at producing guidance on the 'Local state of the environment reports and the treatment of countryside and conservation issues' (SNH in prep).

12. Request for feedback within SNH

In order to maintain an overview of current best and good practice, the author of this Note would welcome information on any SOER activities or initiative in your area or of which you know

13. Further reading

LGMB, 1991. Environmental auditing in local government. LGMB, Luton, Bedfordshire

Scottish Natural Heritage, 1995. The natural heritage of Scotland' an overview. SNH, Battleby

Scottish Natural Heritage, (in prep). Local State of the Environment Reports: the treatment of countryside and conservation issues SNH, Environmental Audit Branch, Edinburgh

Scottish Office, 1993 The Scottish Environment - Statistics HMSO, Edinburgh.

Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link (Dargie, T. & Briggs, D.J ,1991. State of the Scottish Environment 1991 SWCT, Perth

14. Author and contact for further advice and information

Julian Holbrook
Environmental Audit and Appraisal Officer
Environmental Audit Branch
Research and Advisory Services Directorate
2 Anderson Place
EDINBURGH EH6 5NP
Tel: 0131-446 2455
 

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