Coastal Services Center

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Performance Measurement

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Coastal Zone Management Act Performance Measurement System

Staff members from the NOAA Coastal Services Center's Human Dimensions Program assist with research, data generation and collection, reporting, outreach, and facilitation for the Coastal Zone Management Act Performance Measurement System. The system is intended to assess the national impacts of NOAA's Coastal Zone Management Program and National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) in six areas: public access, coastal habitat, coastal water quality, coastal hazards, coastal-dependent uses and community development, and government coordination and decision making. Human Dimensions staff members are especially active in collecting social and economic data for the contextual indicators within the system, a subset of indicators designed to provide background information on the pressures faced by the nation’s coasts. NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) administers this congressionally directed, national initiative.

The Coastal Indicators Information Exchange Website

The Human Dimensions Program is the primary caretaker for the Coastal Indicators Information Exchange, a website designed to foster communication and innovation among those who are developing and using indicators of coastal environmental, social, and economic health. The site offers a number of tools to guide practitioners in choosing and using coastal indicators, and it provides direct links to many successful indicator systems at the international, national, regional, and local scales. Suggestions from website users on additional content are encouraged.

Indicator and Performance Measurement Initiatives

Human Dimensions staff members are involved in a number of indicator and performance measurement initiatives. For example, program staff and others at the NOAA Coastal Services Center are providing research, analysis, and other support to the Indicators for Progress working group of the Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands. Led by Margaret Davidson, the director of the Center, the working group is charged with developing a succinct set of indicators to gauge global progress in achieving integrated ocean and coastal management and ecosystem-based management. The group will present its work at international conferences such as the 2008 Global Oceans Conference in Vietnam and the 2009 World Ocean Conference in Indonesia.

For more information contact the Human Dimensions staff at nos.csc.human.dimensions@noaa.gov.