Indicators, in their role of assisting policy and management processes, must be conceived and used in ways which fit in with and influence policies, goals and structures. This important linking to the management cycle, imposes requirements on indicators.

Ownership by the full range of stakeholders is critical. Unless all interested parties agree the indicators represent sound information relevant to their needs, they risk being ignored or maligned. The best way to ensure consensus is to involve relevant groups in selecting indicators.

A range of scales in space and time apply to environmental management. Careful account must be taken of this when selecting indicators. The scale associated with the indicator will depend on the objective of management.

National State of the Environment reporting will use many continental scale indicators, reflecting the national needs it serves, while local government and individual landholders will mostly use indicators at a much finer scale. The same indicator may be relevant at both local and catchment scales; but, sometimes, different indicators will be needed for different scales.

Both existing and new data can be used. Raw data are often expensive to collect, so it is important for indicators to make use, where possible, of all available data, even if collected for other purposes. On the same grounds, indicators that can be used for several purposes or by more than one group should be preferred to those with a single application. However, where new information is critical to the management goal, it must be collected.

A monitoring program is often needed for indicators to establish the facts and the trends. A trade-off may be necessary between the cost of monitoring and the quality of the information acquired. The most cost-effective indicators should be chosen and the cheapest options are not necessarily the most effective.

Consistency across jurisdictions should be sought where possible. Within Australia, the same indicators should be used in all States and Territories and, where appropriate, be consistent with those used overseas. However, environmental and management variations will often make consistency a challenging goal to achieve.