Sub-Global Assessments
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is a “multi-scale” assessment. The overall assessment will include component assessments undertaken at several different geographic scales, ranging from individual villages to the globe, and the process will be designed so that the findings at any given scale are informed by the assessment components undertaken at other scales. The MA Board established a Working Group in September 2000 to establish the framework and criteria for selecting assessments at multiple scales and to make recommendations to the board for the component assessments. The primary recommendations of the Working Group were approved by the full MA Board on January 4, 2001.
The sub-global assessment component of the MA will consist of integrated multi-scale assessments in two to four focal regions. The Board decided that the MA would initiate activities in Southern Africa and Southeast Asia, with Northern/Central Europe likely to be added during the first year of the process and efforts made to add Central America as the fourth region. Additional regional foci can be added during the first or second year of the MA process with additional funding. Each focal region will result in a “loosely nested cluster” of assessment activities, including one assessment at the regional scale and one or more assessments at sub-regional or local scales within the regions. Through the focus on these three multi-scale clusters of assessment, we expect to be able to develop and test a set of internally consistent cross scale methodologies for integrated ecosystem assessments. At least two individual assessment activities will be included to enrich the MA findings and to expand the range of issues considered (e.g. examining similar driving forces in different regions or an assessment of an island ecosystem).
The full report on the Working Group’s recommendations as well as a detailed description of the purpose, structure and protocols of the Sub-Global Component can be found in the document Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Sub-Global Component: Purpose, Structure and Protocols (124K PDF).
