A proposed framework for developing indicators of ecosystem health for the Great Lakes Region

The focus of this report is on the development of an objective framework for selecting indicators of environmental health in the context of a long-term monitoring program for the Great Lakes region. This framework is based on the ecosystem approach, first formalized by the Great Lakes Research Advisory Board (1978). This approach is conceptualized by the view of "man-within-the system" as opposed to "the ecosystem-external-to-man." Since its inception, this former view has evolved steadily towards a fundamental desire to promote compatibility between and sustainability of both ecological and human systems in the region (Great Lakes Water Quality Board 1989). The proposed framework supports this emerging goal by addressing the development of both biogeochemical and socioeconomic indicators of environmental health and the linkages between them.