cost-effective and have meaning for public awareness. Finally, the general public responds to indicators that have clear and simple messages and are meaningful to them, such as the UV index and the air quality index. Indicator systems and communicating them Individual indicators are designed to translate complex information in a concise and easily understood manner in order to represent a particular phenomenon (e.g. ambient air quality). In contrast, indicator systems (or collections of indicators), when seen as a whole are meant to provide an assessment of the full environment domain or a major subset of it (e.g. forests). Some indicator systems have evolved to include many indicators and require a certain level of knowledge and expertise in various disciplines to fully grasp. A number of methods have been devised in the recent past to boil down this information and allow for rapid consumption by those who do not have the time or the expertise to analyse the full set of indicators. In general these methods can be categorized as numerical aggregation (e.g. indices), short selections of indicators (e.g. core set or headline indicators), short visual assessments (e.g. arrows, traffic signals), and compelling presentations (e.g. maps or the dashboard of sustainability). Many prominent environmental indicator systems have adjusted their indicator systems to include or report solely on a limited “indicator set” (e.g. the OECD’s “Key Environmental Indicators” and the “Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators”) See also Environment (systems) Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol State of the environment Environmental accounting Sustainability measurement Ecological indicator Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Performance indicator References External links U.S. EPA's Report on the Environment Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators The Canadian Sustainability Indicators Network (CSIN) Indicator page of the European Commission's DG Environment Indicators about Europe's Environment Fraser Institute's Environmental Indicators (6th Ed) - has an academic article devoted to its flaws: McKenzie and Rees (2007), "An analysis of a brownlash report", Ecological Economics 61(2-3), pp505–515 State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference International Conference on Environmental Indicators Earth Trends Online biomonitoring of water quality by a 24/7 record of various bivalve molluscs' behavior and physiology worldwide (biological rhythms, growth rate, spawning, daily behavior): the MolluSCAN eye project List of Global Development Indexes and Rankings (including environment indicators) Environmental statistics Indicators