Initiatives

The Initiatives listed below are major or large-scale governmental science efforts that have been initiated by the Federal government to advance the state of knowledge in a particular area. Click on the links below to find out more.

• EPA's Environmental Indicators Initiative
• EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP)
• Healthy People 2010

EPA's Environmental Indicators Initiative
EPA's Environmental Indicators Initiative improves the Agency's ability to report on the status of and trends in environmental conditions and their impacts on human health and the nation's natural resources. The Initiative's two key products are: (1) the Draft Report on the Environment, which is designed for general reading, highlights the progress the nation has made in protecting its air, water, and land resources; and describes the measures that can be used to track the status of the environment and human health, and (2) the Draft Technical Document, which provides the scientific foundation for the Draft Report on the Environment. The Draft Technical Document discusses in detail the indicators and data that are currently available, as well as their limitations.

EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP)
The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program is a research program to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess the status and trends of national ecological resources. EMAP's goal is to develop the scientific understanding for translating environmental monitoring data from multiple spatial and temporal scales into assessments of current ecological condition and forecasts of future risks to our natural resources.

Healthy People 2010
The Health People 2010 initiative is being coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop a preventative agenda for the nation that identifies the most significant preventable threats to human health and establishes national goals to reduce these threats. Healthy People 2010 was developed through a broad consultation process, built on the best scientific knowledge and designed to measure programs over time.