r indicator-based reporting. These include include involving the right people, and clarifying with them the purpose, scope and scale of the management system under consideration. Developing a conceptual framework and models is crucial to to both aid shared understanding and to identify what needs to be evaluated. Within natural resource mangement these tend to either be programme-outcome-based or driver/pressure-based. Irrespective of which framework is chosen the report notes that it will still be important to provide three sets of supporting information to underpin the utility and transparency of the subsequent models: i) scoping and planning; ii) well-documented underpinning assumptions; and iii) internal and external factors that influence outcomes. Attention is also paid to indicator chanracteristics, and the capacities and systems required to support collaborative adaptive management.
- A conceptual framework for selecting environmental indicator sets In recent years, environmental indicators have become a vital component of environmental impact assessments and 'state of the environment' reporting. This has increased the influence of environmental indicators on environmental management and policy making at all scales of decision making. However, as David Niemeijer and Rudolf Groot point out in this 2008 paper the scientific basis of the selection process of the indicators used in environmental reporting can be signicantly improved. In many studies no formal selection criteria are mentioned and when selection criteria are used they are typically applied to indicators individually. Often, no formal criteria are applied regarding an indicator's analytical utility within the total constellation of a selected set of indicators. As a result, the indicator selection process is subject to more or less arbitrary decisions, and reports dealing with a similar subject matter or similar geographical entities may use widely different indicators and consequently paint different pictures of the environment. In this paper, a conceptual framework for environmental indicator selection is proposed that puts the indicator set at the heart of the selection process and not the individual indicators. To achieve this objective, the framework applies the concept of the causal network that focuses on the inter-relation of indicators. The concept of causal networks can facilitate the identification of the most relevant indicators for a specific domain, problem and location, leading to an indicator set that is at once transparent, effcient and powerful in its ability to assess the state of the environment.
- Evaluation rubrics This BetterEvaluation page illustrates how rubrics work using a rating scale to assess group process capacity in dryland community groups - to track their progress and to focus planning for the next stage of the project. In this way a rubric clearly sets out criteria and standards for assessing different levels of project and/or individual (or group or organizational) performance. Rubrics have often been used in education for grading student work, and in recent years have been applied more widely in evaluation to make transparent the process of synthesising evidence into an overall evaluative judgement.
- Evaluation rubrics: how to ensure transparent and clear assessment that respects diverse lines of evidence In this 2013 article Judy Oakden presents education sector evaluation to illustrate the use of a logic model (to identify boundaries) and rubrics (to make evaluative judgements). The article shows how rubrics offer project stakeholders a process for making explicit the judgements in an evaluation and are used to judge the quality, the value, or the importance of the service provided. Rubrics are made up of: i) evaluative criteria: the aspects of performance the evaluation focusses on; and ii) merit determination: the definitions of what performance looks like at each level.
- Incorporating local sustainability indicators into structures of local governance: a review of the literature Too often studies about sustain