Stakeholder Involvement in Indicator Selection:Case Studies and Levels of Participation

摘要

Governmental agencies, Tribal Nations, scientists, managers, and the public are inter-ested in assessing the health of ecosystems and their component parts, includinghumans. Assessing and monitoring human and ecosystem health requires the use of asuite of bioindicators that are biologically, methodologically, and societally relevant,and can be used effectively over time to assess trends and provide early warning. Oftenthe latter consideration is ignored, or at best assumed. This paper examines the role ofstakeholders in indicator selection specifically, and suggests that societal relevanceshould include participation and collaboration with a full range of Tribal Nations andstakeholders, as well as federal and state agencies. The inclusion of a full range ofTribal Nations and stakeholders can result in the development of bioindicators usefulfor ecosystem health assessment, human effects and interventions, human healthassessment, evaluating the efficacy of remediation, and evaluating sustainability. Inthis paper a categorization of stakeholder involvement in indicator selection is pre-sented, along with examples of the range of Tribal Nation and stakeholder involvementin the selection of bioindicators to highlight the importance of inclusion in informationtransfer, resolving conflicts, and developing a path forward for resolving contentiousissues. The categories of Tribal Nations and stakeholder inclusion in bioindicatordevelopment and selection include informational (information provided to stakehold-ers), intragovernmental (collaboration among agencies), intragovernmental withinclusion of outside scientists, stakeholder involvement (stakeholders participate insome aspects), stakeholder-driven (stakeholders either identify the problem or influ-ence strongly its definition), and stakeholder collaboration (where stakeholders makekey contributions and participate in several phases of indicator development andselection). Examples are provided to illustrate each type, and the conclusion is drawnthat increased involvement of stakeholders increases public support and acceptance ofbioindicators used in long-term monitoring plans.