While the individual criteria appear sound and reasonable, it is also implied that not all criteria can be applied to each specific indicator for a variety of reasons. As a consequence, indicators defined on this basis will generally appear fairly broad, and causal relations between policies and effects on biodiversity and ecosystems may be very difficult - if not impossible - to establish. This approach is somewhat contrary to the opposite, bottom-up approach where the state of the biodiversity (or environment in broader terms) or biodiversity loss is described by means of specific indicators.