Developing Indicators of Well-Being and Ecosystem Condition in Gulf Coast Counties

Well-being scholars interested in environmental sustainability have embarked on research in recent years to better document how environmental quality is related to human well-being and quality of life, particularly in communities and cultures that are heavily dependent on natural resources. Only by understanding the linkages between ecosystem health and the human condition can resource managers understand how to design and prioritize natural resource policy for the betterment of society. To further this agenda, presenters will discuss the evaluation of proposed indicators intended to assess county-level well-being for 32 coastal counties along the northern Gulf of Mexico, a region that has historically been impacted by large-scale natural and technological disasters. Presenters identified the best of approximately 128 measures to operationalize 11 proposed well-being indicators, including: Access to Critical Social Services, Economic Security, Basic Needs, Governance, Health, Safety, Social Connectedness, Education, Housing, Occupational Structure, and Environment Condition. Models for each of these indicators were progressively developed using: 1) review of the relevant literature, 2) expert consultation and review, and 3) principal component analysis. Presenters will describe the process for selecting and evaluating the most effective measures for these well-being indicators. Additionally, presenters will discuss the power and effectiveness of the final indicators to assess well-being, as well as summarize prospects for developing meaningful indicators for long-term monitoring of well-being using secondary datasets and sources.