what's the meaning of indicator, such as environmental indicator, and what's the use of these of indicator?

Question

the indicator such as environmental, social and economic indicator, what's the function of them? is environmental indicator means that checking the impact from of landfill from environmenatl perspective? and how can we use these indicators?

Answer 1

An environmental indicator is a measurement, statistic or value that provides a proximate gauge or evidence of the effects of environmental management programs or of the state or condition of the environment. It is a physical, chemical, biological or socio-economic measures that can be used to assess natural resources and environmental quality.

Ecological indicators are used to communicate information about ecosystems and the impact human activity has on ecosystems to groups such as the public or government policy makers. Ecosystems are complex and ecological indicators can help describe them in simpler terms that can be understood and used by non-scientists to make management decisions. For example, the number of different beetle taxa found in a field can be used as an indicator of biodiversity.

The terms ecological indicator and environmental indicator are often used interchangeably. However, ecological indicators are actually a sub-set of environmental indicators. Generally, environmental indicators provide information on pressures on the environment, environmental conditions and societal responses. Ecological indicators refer only to ecological processes.

Social indicators are set of indicators that measure progress towards the policy objectives designed for promoting employment, combating poverty, improving living and working conditions, combating exclusion, and developing human resources.

An economic indicator is a statistic about the economy. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance.

These indicators can be used to look at different aspects of our life. Environmental indicators can be used to let us know about the impact of a given environmental situation. For example, we can look at the impact of a newly placed wetland over a five year period. This can be the same for the social and economic indicators.

Answer 2

An "indicator" is an event (change) that is likely to occur when something else
(the thing you are tracking) happens.

If a coal miner carries a canary into a coal mine and the canary
starts choking and dies, it indicates that their might be something
wrong with the air in the mine.

Or maybe not: The canary could have consumed a bad worm too.

Similarly, the rise in consumer spending might be considered an
indicator that the average household incoming is higher and people
have more money to spend - or it might be considered an indicator
that prices are going down or ...

That's the problem with indicators - they are useless until you agree
with other people what they indicate.

Going back to the canary in the coal mine... Certainly there are a ton
of reasons to die in a coal mine that have nothing to do with bad air
but EXPERIENCE SHOWS that carrying an apparently healthy bird
into the mine with you can be very useful for detecting bad air before
it kills you.

Therefore, indicators generally get their status by experience, not
necessarily by logic.

A few years ago on the Discovery channel, they were talking about
fashions and how they change over the decades. They noted that
during bleak economic years, women tended to wear white, black and
red more often and other colors less often than in good years.

As much as one might guess, nobody knows why.

I suppose clothing color MIGHT be a general indicator for the economy.

Answer 3

Like all words, the meaning changes with the context. "Environmental indicator" is what the Endangered Species Act is based on. Indicator species are used as a way to gage the overall health of an ecosystem. Take the always controversial Spotted Owl. We assume that if they're disappearing that something bad is happening to that ecosystem, and we halt further loss until we figure out what is going on. We don't really give a hoot about Spotted Owls (couldn't resist), we only care that they are an indicator that suggests other bad things are in the process of happening that we haven't noticed yet. We protect them, and they're habitat, because we assume that other things we may care far more about than Spotted Owls may disappear next.

Answer 4

Think of an 'indicator' as a gauge that measures a specific result. Like the Heat Index, the Wind Chill Factor, and the Dow-Jones Industrial Average - all "indicators" of specific events or circumstances that MIGHT end in a particular result. If housing market indicators slump, it could be reasonable to assume that home sales might not be as strong as they've been. -RKO-

Answer 5

i will get you another example - some water organisms can live even in polluted water but some die if the water is not clean. so if there is some toxic discharge from the poorly managed landfill into a water body, the fishes or other critters that used to live happily in the water body die off suddenly.