Monitoring Human Wellbeing as an Ecosystem Indicator in Hood Canal
Presentation Abstract
The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) is a council of local governments around the Hood Canal, a narrow 65 mile long fjord on the west side of Puget Sound, in Washington State. HCCC’s member jurisdictions include county and tribal governments, and it works in partnership with a large community of environmental organizations and consortiums to protect and conserve Hood Canal’s extraordinary environment under a unifying framework, the Hood Canal Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP). In 2014, HCCC adopted indicators of human wellbeing to its suite of ecosystem indicators in the IWP. The six indicators represent each of the domains of human wellbeing, including: Physical, Psychological, Governance, Cultural, Social, and Economic. Over the past year, HCCC has initiated monitoring of the selected indicators using a combination of objective and subjective measures with the goal to integrate this information into strategic planning. HCCC continues to refine its indicator measures and monitoring approach and improve the way ecosystem status and programmatic outcomes are communicated. A major component of this effort is OurHoodCanal.org, an online ecosystem report card that provides annual status updates and serves to re-frame our management approach.
With the addition of human wellbeing indicators, HCCC has initiated an ongoing conversation with many of its member jurisdictions, partners, and the public around how to make environmental management more inclusive and more responsive to the entire social-ecological system. Opening this discussion with decision-makers and project implementers has begun to re-shape HCCC’s and our partners’ approach to environmental management in a way that will better serve the wellbeing of Hood Canal’s natural and social communities.
Session Title
Human Wellbeing Related to the Salish Sea
Conference Track
People
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Human geography; Environmental geography; Social sciences; Sustainable living
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Hood Canal (Wash.)--Environmental aspects
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Monitoring Human Wellbeing as an Ecosystem Indicator in Hood Canal
2016SSEC
The Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) is a council of local governments around the Hood Canal, a narrow 65 mile long fjord on the west side of Puget Sound, in Washington State. HCCC’s member jurisdictions include county and tribal governments, and it works in partnership with a large community of environmental organizations and consortiums to protect and conserve Hood Canal’s extraordinary environment under a unifying framework, the Hood Canal Integrated Watershed Plan (IWP). In 2014, HCCC adopted indicators of human wellbeing to its suite of ecosystem indicators in the IWP. The six indicators represent each of the domains of human wellbeing, including: Physical, Psychological, Governance, Cultural, Social, and Economic. Over the past year, HCCC has initiated monitoring of the selected indicators using a combination of objective and subjective measures with the goal to integrate this information into strategic planning. HCCC continues to refine its indicator measures and monitoring approach and improve the way ecosystem status and programmatic outcomes are communicated. A major component of this effort is OurHoodCanal.org, an online ecosystem report card that provides annual status updates and serves to re-frame our management approach.
With the addition of human wellbeing indicators, HCCC has initiated an ongoing conversation with many of its member jurisdictions, partners, and the public around how to make environmental management more inclusive and more responsive to the entire social-ecological system. Opening this discussion with decision-makers and project implementers has begun to re-shape HCCC’s and our partners’ approach to environmental management in a way that will better serve the wellbeing of Hood Canal’s natural and social communities.
Comments
A Word document containing this abstract submission can be found at this link.