The field of environmental statistics has seen rapid growth in the past few decades as a response to increasing concern over the environment in the public, organizational, and governmental sectors.
Environmental statistics are used in many fields including; health and safety organizations, standard bodies, research institutes, water and river authorities, meteorological organizations, fisheries, protection agencies, and in risk, pollution, regulation and control concerns.
[2] Environmental statistics is especially pertinent and widely used in the academic, governmental, regulatory, technological, and consulting industries.
[2] Types of studies covered in environmental statistics include:[3] Sources of data for environmental statistics are varied and include surveys related to human populations and the environment, records from agencies managing environmental resources, maps and images, equipment used to examine the environment, and research studies around the world.
A primary component of the data is direct observation, although most environmental statistics use a variety of sources.