Application of biotic indicators for evaluation of sustainable land use -: current procedures and future developments

Indicators in the field of bio-diversity and landscape are applied on various levels, including the continental field as well as the individual agricultural enterprise. Apart from the ecological evaluation of agricultural enterprises and agrarian policy measures, indicators are also used in environmental reporting and evaluation as well as in planning or simulation models in administrative and scientific fields. Already for longer period of time, indicators have been used as assessment criteria in landscape planning to support decisions regarding land use. Due to the standards the EU commission requires from the member states in this regard, the application of indicators to assess the effects of agri-environment programs have gained prominence. The EU requires proof of the achievement of the promotion aims such as soil (erosion, nutrients, plant-protective agents), water, bio-diversity and landscape (EU/VO 12004/00). This commitment can be met by means of a functioning environmental reporting. However, only an insufficient number of suitable indicators exist in the fields of bio-diversity and landscape. In a bottom-up approach, control systems to assess ecological farming achieved on an operational level for a future development were recently developed. Here, a future development is seen in the alignment referring to results or goals, respectively, and in the regionalisation. The article gives an overview of the indicator application on different spatial levels and for different purposes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.