In our dynamic, complex world, the increasing scale of human activity is a major driver of change. Environmental indicators are becoming widely used as a simple way to view our complex environment and assess the impacts of our activities and our management responses. The move to a broader use of indicators is relatively new, with rapidly developing initiatives at all scales but a sense of inadequate consistency and continuity.

Interest is increasing in environmental indicators because society is more aware of issues influencing environmental quality, places more value on the environment, and demands better management and higher accountability from those responsible for both its use and its conservation.

Good indicators encapsulate knowledge, providing an essential tool for understanding and for management purposes, from local to global. They are of great potential benefit as guides for action and to help measure its success, but must be designed with clear objectives and interpreted carefully. They are not an end in themselves.

To help the use of indicators for better environmental management, CSIRO prepared a booklet which suggests a general framework and guidelines suitable for many users and uses. It aims to help by giving a general guide to the context and content of good indicators, but does not cover in detail the selection, development and use of any particular indicator. This website is the electronic counterpart of that booklet.

This material should provide an indicator starting point for those involved in resource management, industry, community groups, planners, policy and decision-makers at all levels of government, students and scientists.

Its framework ideas could be applied to many scales and purposes. For example, assisting property management; water quality monitoring and management; State of the Environment reporting; and in the meeting of corporate environmental management and reporting obligations.