University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Integration and Application Network

Communicate Better, Empower Change

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A report card for the Upper Rio Grande basin

This is the first Upper Rio Grande Report Card. It is the collective effort of dozens of stakeholders throughout the Upper Rio Grande watershed. Indicators in the report card were selected to assess the health of four different values in the watershed: Water Quantity & Quality, Management & Governance, Society & Culture, and Landscapes & Ecology. Overall, the Upper Rio Grande watershed earned a score of 54%, a C.

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Building Resilience in the Maryland Coastal Bays

The theme of this 2022 State of the Coastal Bays is building ecological resilience in the region. The structure of the State of the Coastal Bays is to 1) establish the challenge of climate change, 2) discuss various aspects of ecosystem health, 3) conceptualize key features and major threats and highlight features that increase health and resilience, and 4) discuss various aspects of resilience.

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Climate Change and Fiji Coasts

The first-ever Fiji Socioenvironmental Report Card is now available! This report, released by the PACPATH team, examines threats to Fiji's communities and coasts and proposes actions to fight the impacts of climate change on the ocean and coastal livelihoods

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2022 Maryland Coastal Bays Report Card

The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2022 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals. The six indicators are combined into one overarching Coastal Bays Health Index, which is presented as the report card score. The Coastal Bays had an overall score of B- for 2022, an incremental improvement over last year.

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2022 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card

This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed. Since 2016, UMCES has engaged stakeholders throughout the watershed to transform the report card into an evaluation of the Chesapeake Watershed health. Watershed health includes traditional ecological indicators, but also economic and societal indicators. This is the fourth year the watershed has been scored, and one new ecological indicator has been added. Linkages and relationships between the ecological, economic, and societal indicators will be evaluated in future report cards.