Pressure-State-Response Framework
Human activity places pressure on many aspects of the environment. For instance, deforestation results in the invasion of weed species, habitat displacement, and, when undertaken on a large scale, adversely affects air quality and carbon dioxide sequestration.
Examples of pressures under the Pressure-State-Response ("PSR") framework include: pollutants discharged from factories, or draining into a river from the land; it could be the removal of forest from the land or over-harvesting by fishermen or hunters.
In this framework, only pressures introduced by human interaction with the environment are considered. Natural pressures such as extreme weather are only considered in the context of human-induced climate change (i.e. global warming).
A "state" is the condition of the environment at a particular time. This is assessed by measuring various aspects of the atmosphere, air, water, land and organisms.
The European Environment Agency has extended the pressure-state-response framework to include driving forces and impacts (see DPSIR).
Read more about this topic: State Of The Environment
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