GEO Haiti 2010

State of the Environment Report 2010
43
pressure vary considerably from one region to another,
but they are often the association of pressures which
lead to environmental change.
State (S): The status of the environment and its
flexibility with regard to change varies considerably
from one region to another because of its climatic and
ecological conditions. The environmental situation
also includes gradual evolutions which often refer to
ecological changes. These changes may be natural,
anthropical or both at the same time. The complexity
of the physical, chemical and biological systems
which constitute the environment makes it difficult
to predict ecological changes, especially when this
prediction is subject to several pressures.
Impacts (I): The environment is affected, directly or
indirectly, by the social and economic sectors, and
contributes to the changes (positive or negative)
which affect human well-being and our ability
to manage climate changes. These impacts,
whether they influence human well-being, social
and economic sectors or environmental services,
are largely dependent on the characteristics of the
accelerators. For this reason, impacts vary significantly
between developing and developed regions.
Responses (R): Responses take place at different levels:
for example, environmental laws and institutions
at national levels, and multilateral environmental
agreements and institutions at regional and global
levels. The capacity to mitigate environmental
changes and/or adapt to them varies according to
and within the regions themselves, and this explains
why capacity-development is an essential and
major part of the responses. Its function is analysisintegration,
in order to better explain the cause-effect
relationship and finally offer the best response to the
ecological challenges a society is facing.
Scenarios: Scenarios are projections in regard to the
future, based on the current knowledge of situations
and responses given to problems, a coherent and
multidimensional overall view that allows decisionmakers
to anticipate probable situations that are likely
to occur in the future and, as such, to avoid negative
impacts. The result is a combination of indicators,
trends and potential targets with explanatory
texts, all of which show the likely progress of
events and enable future projections. These
scenarios are drawn up under three tendencies:
first, the tendency towards inertia; secondly, the
optimum or most favorable scenario, and finally
the pessimistic scenario, meaning what would
happen in the worst case.
The diagram below shows the relationship
between the components of the DPSIR (Driving
forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Responses) matrix.
It should be considered first and foremost as a
model for organizing the work and assessment
process, and not only as a relationship between
the components themselves.