How ecological indicators construction reveals social changes-The case of lakes and rivers in France

Social and scientific factors are deeply enmeshed in each other within the development and the use of ecological indicators (EI). Yet low research has assessed which factors contribute to selecting ecological indicators on the long-term. This article proposes to study the historical construction of El by examining ecological, political, and social background of specific places where El were developed, in France on lakes and rivers. Our major findings in France were that ecological indicators were never optimised for the present market or political arena. Instead El development was typically recycling previous tools that were elaborated for other purposes by environmentally committed outsiders, without regular funding. We found that regular funding for monitoring an El was only provided when it matched an institution's goal. Beyond the geographically limited relevance of the case studies, these results therefore improve the theoretical framework we deploy when constructing or relying on indicators. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.