The Australian Government Department of the Environment is seeking to strengthen the evidence base to protect, sustainably manage and report on the health of the Commonwealth Marine Area (CMA). The Department is also (but initially in a terrestrial and freshwater context) trying to improve the availability of timely and meaningful information on trends in the state of the environment through a new initiative, called the Essential Environmental Measures for Australia, under the National Plan for Environmental Information (NPEI). This document supports these objectives by providing options for monitoring of, and reporting on, Key Ecological Features (KEFs) to help the Department identify a limited set of Essential Environmental Measures and strengthen the evidence base for reporting on the health of the CMA: it represents the first step towards a blueprint for a sustained approach to environmental monitoring and reporting.

Also view the brochure - Monitoring Australia's oceans: towards a blueprint