The process of developing a socioenvironmental report card through transdisciplinary collaboration can be used in any system and can provide the foundation for collaborative solutions for sustainable resource management by creating a holistic assessment that balances environmental, economic, and social concerns that incorporates multiple perspectives from multisectoral actors.

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Early ecosystem health report cards focused on assessing the health of natural ecosystems, producing a “snapshot” of ecosystem health at one point in time. Ecosystem health report cards are used to guide efforts that improve ecosystem health through natural resources manage- ment and stakeholder engagement. Common themes among Report Cards include water quality and quantity and habitat. These indicators are not strictly environmental concerns, though.

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New York Harbor is a complex of interconnected waterways that have supported the rapid development of a thriving megacity and metropolitan region. The water quality of New York, a partner city in the World Harbour Project, is a reflection of the combined impacts of this metropolitan region. Water quality health and trends were assessed between 1996–2017 in 9 different reporting regions using publicly available data.

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In the annual IAN Report Card, IAN staff reflect back on accomplishments from 2018. The self-assessment is based on indicators in three categories: social impacts, ecological outcomes, and partner engagement. Overall, IAN received an overall grade of B (86%) which is an improvement from the 2017 score of B- (81%).

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The Belmont Forum Synthesis Workshop was held virtually, with four project teams from around the globe participating remotely. The process was convened by the Belmont Forum and facilitated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. It served as the-end term meeting for the Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services I (CRA). Project teams from around the globe participated virtually via online software.

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The Tripartite Valorization Workshop was convened by the Belmont Forum and facilitated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Washington DC on 8-10 December 2018. It served as the-end term meeting for the Food Security and Land Use Change Collaborative Research Action (CRA), and mid-term meetings for the Arctic Observing and Science for Sustainability and Mountains as Sentinels of Change CRAs.

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Aerial surveys of coastal habitats can uniquely inform the science and management of shallow, coastal zones, and when repeated annually, they reveal changes that are otherwise difficult to assess from ground-based surveys. This paper reviews the utility of a long- term (1984–present) annual aerial monitoring program for submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) in Chesapeake Bay, its tidal tributaries, and nearby Atlantic coastal bays, USA.

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The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2018 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.

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Across the United States, ecological drought is ubiquitous, profound, and has become more severe. This newsletter summarizes the findings of a three-year synthesis on the current status of drought research across the United States. The ecological drought synthesis project involved workshops at each of the eight regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers.

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This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of Chesapeake Bay. In 2018, the report card includes five water quality indicators and two biotic indicators. In 2018, the overall grade for Chesapeake Bay is a 46%, a C. This means the Bay is in moderate health. Despite the decrease in score from 2017, overall bay health is still significantly improving over time. Long term trends of each reporting region health and a fisheries index are also presented.

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