Environmental Affairs

Lesson 8: Environmental Information and Understanding as the basis for change

OBJECTIVE: To allow for a genuine appreciation of the role of information in environmental management. By pointing out how effective environmental management relies upon competent information management, the importance of cross-cutting skills and mulit-sectoral experiences will be demonstrated. The lesson and the course concludes with a short test that draws on all lessons.

Information as management input

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) have permitted the diffusion of knowledge and sharing of information, experiences and resources with a speed previously unheard of. Experience shows that access to and use of these technologies are critical for the socio-economic development of individuals, communities and nations and for the increase of their relevance and competitive capacity in life and the global economy.

The growth of the Internet—today the world’s largest communication network—synthesizes and epitomizes the reality of the global information society in which the exchange of ideas and commercial transactions are done in real time, transcending physical frontiers between countries as well as other barriers. Environmental management today, not only benefits from the Internet as a resource and tool, it increasingly relies and depends on it.

Building the capacity to sustainably management the environment and natural resources is often synonymous with strengthening the capacity of environmental organizations, public agencies and private firms to effectively manage large amounts and different forms of information. T.Land, an expert in capacity development work notes that Helping to build capacities that allow organizations to fulfill their development objectives more effectively is now a development priority. It is also a key to sustainable development. The capacity to manage information and knowledge is an increasingly important component of this process, and therefore needs to be viewed as an integral part of organizational capacity building strategies….. there is an ever-pressing need to ensure greater coordination and interaction both among those active in knowledge management as well as with those who are involved in strengthening organizational capacities.

As such it is vital that the information sector is not inward looking but ensures that building information management capacities is treated as an integral and cross-cutting component of an organization’s performance improvement strategy.

Knowledge, and indeed environmental knowledge should thus be treated as a resource. In developing countries, indigenous knowledge plays an important role with regard to agricultural and environmental management.

------------------------------------ The Knowledge Hierarchy

1Knowledge: Information that people make use of

2 Information: data that has value to someone in the context of their work or life

3 Data: facts and figures out of context ------------------------------------

However, without formal organizations where technology-based information can be handled and managed, effective environmental management may prove to be difficult, to say the least. Clearly, modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer various opportunities for agriculture, environment, tourism, and natural resources, for example:

-dissemination—via the Internet and in collaboration with research institutions—of techniques or mechanisms for soil preservation and preparation;

-promotion of the exchange of information via the Internet about endangered animal and plant species and, by doing so, helping to improve environmental management;

-ample dissemination of country/regional/urban information through the use of geographical information service technologies;

-establishment of a computer networks connected to regional and international networks so as to promote complementarity between organizations or even countries

-international dissemination, via the Internet, of information about a country’s tourist potential and, thereby, attracting tourists and investors.

(examples Mozambique’s Draft Information and Communication Technology Policy)

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Knowledge management seeks to track a variety of types of information. Many are facts and can be inventoried. Some information goes beyond facts and provides rich detail, commentary, and reflections.

Among the more popular types of this rich data shared through knowledge management systems are:

- Assessment tools: a listing of criteria and guidelines for using these criteria to evaluate a given situation. The guidelines might be a scoring or priority system.

- Best practices: an assessment recommending the most appropriate way of handing a certain type of task after reviewing the ways that several organizations handle it. For example, after one hotel chain introduced express check-out, others quickly recognized its value to boost efficiency and satisfaction. When many others adopted it, it became a de facto best practice.

- Lessons learned: A reflection about the knowledge that people can and should transfer from one experience into similar ones. These lessons often reflect on "what we did right", "what we would do differently", and "how we could improve our process and product to be more effective in the future".

-------------------- EIS - A tool of the trade

The term "Environmental Information System" only came into wide use in the 1990s, concurrent with the advent of natural resource and environment action plans. The concept reflects our growing understanding of the link between environment and development. Thus, environmental information is the data, statistics, and other documents, that enable managers to identify and quantify specific environmental resource categories, and to determine their optimum utilization. Seen in this larger context, an EIS is the institutional and technical response needed to improve the role and benefits of information in environmental management.

Data for EIS come from a wide variety of sources and in different formats. Logically, efficient mechanisms for data access are as important as the availability of the data themselves. Therefore, EIS includes strategies, procedures and institutional frameworks, together with data management tools, that ensure access to environmentally relevant data and allow their analysis. Such systems must be designed to support the needs of a wide range of users and assist them in their decisions.

EIS encompasses several information technology tools, more particularly geographic information systems (GIS). In a sense the integrating nature of GIS provides much of the impetus for EIS development in Sub-Sahara Africa. In the context of EIS, GIS serves to combine geo-referenced information on natural resources with other essential data such as demographics, to support planning, management, and decision-making. Soure: World Bank ------------------------- Once an organization has decided to adopt and implement an ICT policy, it will be in a better position to seriously deal with environmental issues. This is generally done through an environmental management system (EMS). Such a system establishes what an organization needs to do in order to manage itself so as to meet its environmental, economic and sustainable development goals.

It will decide what the goals should be, determine policies and strategies for implementation, and will create the necessary linkages between environmental concerns, the economic/budget considerations and how the institution will respond. ISO 14001 is an international standard for the certification of environmental management systems. Three of the key requirements are summarised below:

* The organisation shall identify and assess the significance of the impact its activities can have on the environment. These impacts are described as environmental aspects.

* Objectives and targets designed to reduce the organisation's environmental impact shall be established and a programme for achieving these objectives and targets shall be in place.

* The company's environmental policy must contain a commitment to continuous improvement, prevention of pollution and a commitment to comply with relevant environmental legislation and regulations.