The international conventions and other multilateral environmental agreements also need indicators of country performance and of their overall effectiveness. This will require an intellectual exercise in each case to identify the most appropriate parameters for indicators, as well as a major data collection effort including a common methodology, capacity building, harmonization, quality control, and an assessment process. The Global Observing Systems with experience in this area could assist the conventions and their scientific advisory bodies to design and implement a supporting information system to generate the necessary indicators. This will be a major effort led by the UN Statistics Division with the cooperation of other agencies. With the rapid evolution of indicators work, this inventory, if it is to be meaningful, will have to be continuously updated, and should involve many partners including some outside the UN whose work is highly relevant.
Countries are increasingly concerned about the burden of international reporting requirements.
A well designed and integrated indicators programme will require some investment at the national level, but could simplify international reporting while also contributing to better national decision-making. This will only happen if there is a significant on-going effort to harmonize, simplify and integrate indicator activities. There even appear to be cases where the same country is involved in different international indicator programmes, but because each involves a different ministry, there is no coordination at the national level. There may be a need for more extensive information exchange, perhaps through an international indicators forum or similar meeting every few years, where governments, international agencies and NGO's could share their experiences.