Environmental Status Report

An Environmental Status Report is a comprehension of the driving forces associated with a demography, the pressures that these forces create on the health and economy of the demography and the way the driving forces and pressures are responsible for the present state of the city.

It also comprehends the impacts which the stakeholders to the growth and development of the demography would face in case the present driving forces and pressures persist with the same policy measures.

Ultimately it proposes a 'Response' or a strategic plan which could be a potential solution to the mitigate or check the negative impacts that are observed during the study or are anticipated on the basis of the study. Microclimate changes, flash floods and urban heat island effect are examples on the impacts of rapidly growing urban bodies on a local scale. These changes when cumulated lead to regional and global scale impacts.

If these impacts are not taken into consideration while planning the sprawl of a city, then they would have an adverse impact on the health and economy of all the stakeholders to the development of the city.

Hence, an Environmental Status Report acts like a "mirror" of the city and hence forms the base on which several plans related to the development of the city could be made.

Objectives of an Environmental Status Report

  • To highlight the condition of the environment
  • To analyse trends or changes in the environment,
  • To determine the causes of these changes,
  • To assess and interpret the implications and impacts of these trends if no action is taken
  • To inform and involve policy makers, the public, and other stakeholders to develop a response plan
  • To report progress on the effectiveness of the actions taken.
  • To develop environmental performance indicators for the cities that will provide a common platform for judging the environmental performance of cities.
  • To standardise the ESR format that will make intercity comparison of environmental parameters and tracing the environmental trends easy.
  • To understand where ESRs stand as compared to global standards
  • To benchmark best ESR practices so that all cities can follow them.

Application & Utility

A participative process is a priority when defining contents, as this process will be the basis for the viability of the objectives and actions proposed. The result of the Strategic plan should not necessarily be the creation of regulations or a government program (although its adoption by the State and Local Government should mean the instigation of regulations, investment, administrative measures, policy initiatives, etc) but rather a policy contract between public institutions and civil society. For this reason, the process following the approval of the plan and the monitoring and implementation of measures or actions is just as or more important than the process of elaboration and consensual approval.