The Desertification Information System/Environmental Information System on the Internet (DIS/EISI) Programme for 2001 to 2003

By Dr Christophe Nuttall (UNITAR, Geneva, Switzerland)

 

1                    The DIS/EISI programme for 2001-2003

1.1                Background

Significant efforts are being made to manage natural resources, involving both scientific and technical research and the implementation of appropriate programmes and projects in the field. The results, in the form of both products and data, represent a unique scientific, technical and cultural heritage for sustainable development in Africa.

However, it has to be recognized that this information heritage is more often than not dispersed on account of sectoral compartmentalization that in many cases is very marked, and which results in duplicated activities that reduce the competitiveness of institutions and constitute a waste of time, energy and money. The huge body of data, information and products thus accumulated does not always amount to a useable information capital for three main reasons:

(i) the results of data collection and processing are confined to a limited number of users who often form part of the same professional, scientific and .....technical milieu;

(ii)the products generated are in many cases not transformed into information that can be directly used in decision‑making processes relating to the .....management of natural resources and the environment;

(iii) the information remains too dispersed, restricted and hard to access by users at .....both the national and international levels owing to a lack of ......suitable mechanisms for the circulation of information.

The result of all this is an apparent lack of information at the local level which fails to reflect the existence in reality of a cultural and information heritage within national and international institutions or specialized bodies throughout the world. This loss of "institutional memory" due to dispersal and compartmentalization is now recognized as being one of the major obstacles to sustainable development in Africa.

 

1.2  International context

Strengthening of the collection and exchange of information is recommended by Agenda 21 (Chapter 40) and by other international legal instruments relating to the environment, such as those on climate change (Articles 5 and 12), biodiversity (Articles 12, 17 and 18), combating desertification (Articles 16 and 18), the Ramsar Convention, CITES, etc.

Since 1994, moreover, several ITU conferences, in particular the first World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) (Buenos Aires, 1994), the Plenipotentiary Conference (Kyoto, 1994) and, above all, the second WTDC (Valletta, 1998), have emphasized the role of telecommunication and information technologies for environmental protection and sustainable development. Among other things, WTDC‑98 specifically recommended the following:

1)the implementation of a global operational telecommunication-environment project on the development and use of telecommunication and ...information technologies for the protection of the environment and sustainable development, which will be an interregional project with regional ...and/or subregional components, and will take account of the specific characteristics and needs of the different regions/subregions concerned.

2 )the organization of seminars, regional workshops and training and research programmes in order to study the matter in greater depth and heighten ....awareness among all those concerned of the value of implementing multilateral and bilateral projects within the framework of international ....cooperation.

3 )the establishment of a framework for international cooperation which will enable all those concerned (governments of developed and developing ....countries, manufacturers and consumers of technology, private sector, international organizations, United Nations specialized agencies, etc.) to carry ....out, promote and develop projects to ensure optimum use of the most appropriate telecommunication and information technologies for the ....protection of the environment and sustainable development.

 

1.3 Objective

It is in response to these needs, bearing in mind the current status of environmental management in Africa, that it is appropriate to develop environmental information and monitoring systems on the Internet with a view to ensuring the availability of useful information for decision‑makers, non‑governmental bodies, civil society and the private sector.

In this context, the DIS/EISI can be seen as a tool for the management of environmental information in support of the legal instruments relating to the environment in Africa: desertification, biodiversity, climate change, wetlands, etc.

 

2  Concept, approach and methods used

The DIS/EISI concept is based on the combination of a participative institutional approach and a technical process involving the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). It responds to the needs expressed by a large number of decision‑makers responsible for environmental matters in developing countries. As well as being a technological tool, it also seeks to encourage the various players involved in the management of natural resources and the environment to communicate better with one another and to share their experiences and information heritage in the interests of establishing a genuine partnership.

At the institutional level, the concept seeks to bring about a participative approach through partnership, coordination through consultation and decision‑making through negotiated consensus.

At the technical level, an environmental information and monitoring system on the Internet depends on the integration and networking of existing databases and geographic information systems, using Internet services to circulate information relating to the management of natural resources and the environment (documents and various types of product such as maps, data, indicators and metadata).

The DIS/EISI serves the various partners concerned with environmental issues, namely the authorities (coordination bodies, ministries and their respective technical services, the scientific and technological community, research and training institutions, etc.), civil society (NGOs, associations, etc.) and partners in cooperation (multilateral and bilateral development agencies, etc.).

The users in question are thus:

         national bodies responsible for coordinating the United Nations conventions;

         national, subregional and international institutions;

         technical directors and other technical officials;

         programme and project managers;

         the scientific and technological community;

         the media;

         the general public.

The implementation and success of a DIS/EISI involves three major phases comprising successive stages:

             An institutional preparatory phase comprising:

Ø      an awareness-building mission and feasibility study;

Ø      an institutional profile of the environment based on inventories;

Ø      a consultative forum for the players concerned, for the purpose, among other things, of drawing up an information charter to serve as a genuine draft agreement.

An equipment and training phasedesigned to strengthen the technical capabilities of the institutions concerned and to train technicians with a view to the creation of a network of harmonized Web pages.

             An evaluation, restitution and extension phase comprising:

Ø      internal and external evaluations aimed at improving the DIS/EISI and adapting it to the evolving needs of its users;

Ø      restitution in the form of a national forum or workshop;

Ø      drawing up of arrangements for extending the project to other national partners;

Ø      ideas for maintaining the project in operation.

 

3    Assessment of pilot projects

3.1                National pilot projects

Five pilot projects were launched in northern Africa (Morocco and Tunisia) and western Africa (Benin, Mali and Senegal), the methods used in their implementation having been very similar in each country. Barring a few minor variations, the following activities took place in each of the countries:

         an awareness-building mission and feasibility study for the purpose of defining the institutional and technical frameworks and the terms of reference for implementation;

 

         the elaboration of a national environmental profile, involving the inventorying of institutions, legal texts, programmes, projects and documents relating to the environment;

         a round table which, through the adoption of an information charter, defined the roles of the various partners and the content of the DIS/EISI on the basis of the needs expressed;

 

         one or more technical training sessions on elaboration of the Web gateway and pages.

 

The way in which each of the five DIS/EISIs works is very similar, following this structure:

 

An institutional gateway, with each partner owning its own website enabling it to become acquainted with other partners. The information,which is arranged according to a pre-established and homogenous format, takes the form of general facts and figures on the body in question (contact details, terms of reference and prerogatives, objectives, resources, results, available services, products, etc.). The institutional portal provides access to all the Web pages of the various partner bodies. It is structured on the basis of a typology of the partners.

 

A thematic gateway in which the information is organized according to major sectors of activity (forestry, animal breeding, agricultural production, irrigation, combating desertification, biodiversity, etc.), the work of categorizing it according to specific major themes being carried out by a panel of bodies whose involvement is very broad. The thematic groups, using the same approach for balancing the information supply and demand, make useful information pertaining to the various themes available.

A virtual library which, under the auspices of the documentation centers of the different ministerial bodies, in gradually opening up direct online access to reference material. Initially, anyone is able to identify a reference document, and will at a later stage be able to access it electronically from his or her own workstation through the DIS/EISI virtual library.

A virtual map library which, subject to the regulatory provisions in force, allows access to map resources (thematic maps, satellite images, aerial photographs, geodesic graticules, etc.). According to the desired product, access will be possible in the form of metadata (references),quick look(reduced copy window),original(digital reproduction) or GIS (map resulting from cross-referencing in a georeferenced database accessible via the Internet – GeoWeb).

Along these same lines, Uganda and Burkina Faso are receiving technical assistance from OSS, through UNITAR, to implement their pilot project.

All the countries of western, eastern and northern Africa, as well as some countries in southern Africa, have expressed the wish to implement such a DIS/EISI project.

The experience gained with the pilot projects thus far carried out has shown up a number of obstacles which need to be removed:

         For financial reasons, the pilot projects of beneficiary countries, with the exception of Benin and Mali, which received additional funds within the framework of a loan from the World Bank, did not receive sufficient computer equipment to allow for full dissemination of the EISI products. In future, an appropriate amount should therefore be foreseen for such equipment.

         Owing to a lack of technical capacity, a number of DIS/EISI sites are hosted solely on the UNITAR server. On-site server solutions should therefore be foreseen as from the initial phase.

         In some countries, difficulties arise in the updating, of the DIS/EISIs, by the various partners. In this regard, it will be necessary to introduce, from the outset, measures that are more encouraging and motivating on the one hand, and limiting on the other: technical solutions, individual satisfaction, tasks included in the job description of the person concerned, services provided linked to technical training, etc.

3.2                The sub regional pilot project

Within the framework of their subregional action programme, CILSS and ECOWAS have begun to develop their own subregional EISI. The principle of a subregional EISI is similar to that of an EISI at the national level. Together with ITU and UNDP/UNSO, and with support from France and the collaboration of OSS, a subregional round table to draw up an information charter was held with all the national focal points responsible for implementation of the CCD as well as a number of representatives of subregional organizations. It was also possible, following a period of technical training, to set up a technical team to prepare a prototype of the Western Africa EISI, the content of which is also similar to that of the national EISIs.

Here too the initial results are encouraging.

IGAD and UMA have in turn initiated a process for the implementation of a subregional DIS/EISI. Subregional meetings have been held in each of the two subregions. In the case of IGAD, it was the various focal points for the three conventions (climate change, desertification and biodiversity) from the six member countries who together drew up the eastern Africa EISI.

The subregional DIS/EISIs should ultimately come to be the mechanisms for networking the various subregional and national programmes and institutions through interconnection of the national DIS/EISIs, thereby enabling the multi-scale integration of available environmental data and information.

 

3.3  The regional pilot project

The DIS/EISI, known as the Africa DIS/EISI, is in due course destined to become a gateway for:

         regional data and information, based on the major sustainable development themes, namely desertification, climate change, biodiversity, wetlands, protected areas, etc.;

         the subregional EISIs;

         the national EISIs.

In its pilot phase, the DIS/EISI has devoted its efforts to the development, together with UNEP's GRID Geneva, of the GISWEB concept. GISWEB is a computer tool which enables the user, without the need for a database, GIS software or any particular technical knowledge, and in an interactive fashion, to:

         access, using any browser, a remote georeferenced database;

         display information layers (raster), overlay vector plans, consult the corresponding legends, etc.;

         conduct analyses on the vector information plans by means of mathematical or logical operators.

 

Such a tool is now operational, based on a georeferenced database covering the entire African continent. The database was put together from the various databases publicly available from a number of data producers: UNEP, FAO, NASA, DCW, WRI, IRD, etc.

3.4  Technical materials

The experience jointly acquired by OSS and UNITAR with financial and/or technical partners such as France, Germany, the World Bank, GRID-UNEP, UNDP/UNSO, ITU and the Fonds francophone des Inforoutes, led to the production of:

         A methodological guide to EISI implementation, which runs through the various stages involved in setting up an EISI. The methodological elements are provided in the form of a toolbox;

         A CD-ROM containing a list of all the sites and products established within the framework of the programme;

         A dedicated site (http://www.sisei.net/ ) providing online access to all these sites and products.

 

 

4 Objective of the 2001-2003 programme and expected results

Under the 2001-2003 phase of the DIS/EISI programme, the aim is to make the EISI concept operational in some 20 or more countries on the African continent and the four subregions, namely CILSS/ECOWAS, IGAD, UMA and SADC. In addition to the subregional bodies that will be implementing their subregional systems, between three and seven countries per subregion will be selected for the implementation of national DIS/EISIs.

In order to implement the programme it will be necessary to strengthen regional, subregional and national technical and institutional capacities to make them directly capable of initiating, providing training for, developing and monitoring and evaluating the actual implementation of the subregional and national DIS/EISIs.

Rather than imposing a particular approach from the outside, the introduction of such systems will, thanks to the participative approach, be based on institutional agreements and technical solutions proposed by the partners in the light of local considerations and conditions.

The following may be mentioned on an indicative basis:

 

 

The main objectives being sought under the programme and the specific results expected by those subregional organizations and national institutions having already made their views known are:

-	The establishment of national capabilities in the management of environmental information at the subregional and national levels in order to be more clearly aware of "who does what, where, how and with what results?" in the different environmental sectors.
-	Support for and encouragement of ongoing initiatives through the facilitation of direct exchanges of information and mutual cooperation between beneficiary African countries. This will make it possible to economize on efforts and financial resources to the extent that projects often cover ground that has already been covered by other projects elsewhere.
-	Development of the existing information heritage through encouragement and support for local initiatives and by facilitating the exchange of experience among the various local, national and subregional players, for the benefit of all concerned. The consequence will be to avoid redundancy and duplication of efforts in the collection and analysis of data on the one hand, and in the development of products designed to assist in the planning and decision-making process on the other.
-	The establishment, through a common gateway, of a network that is both operational and active on a day-to-day basis, and which brings together African institutions and the national and subregional focal points for the various international and regional legal instruments relating to the environment.
-	More specifically, the following is expected of the various DIS/EISIs:
-	The strengthening of national and subregional capabilities for the better management of environmental data and information (scientific articles, technical reports, field studies, databases, maps and other information sources);
-	The possibility for technical and political bodies to talk to one another in the interests of integrating their respective scientific and technical data in a process of planning and decision-making;
-	Improved ergonomics and use of Internet-based information sources in support of processes intended to provide aid to decision-making;
-	Improved planning processes thanks to a better understanding of environmental phenomena within a spatial and temporal perspective;
-	The contribution of natural resources management to sustainable development in general and to the fight against poverty in particular;
-	.Better collaboration and coordination between partners and players at different levels;
-	Better taking into account of the various players in participative decision-making processes;
-	Better access for institutions and the general public to environmental data and information in the public domain, such as legal texts;
-	The design of a telecommunication and information network interlinking national systems through the regional nodes;
-	Distance education through the bringing online of different environmental training modules;
-	A process of exchange and sharing for the purpose of ensuring coordination and synergy among different players and programmes having the same objectives, sometimes within the same areas, but without always being aware of the fact;
-	Shared assistance in the drafting of speeches, reports and studies on the basis of data that are known to be reliable and from common sources.

 

5                    Principles for the development of this new phase: activities and roles of the different partners

Two major phases are proposed for the redeployment of the programme:

1) The first relates to capitalization and to the transfer of knowledge and skills for the strengthening of regional, subregional and national capabilities ahead of the decentralized implementation of the programme. This phase lasts six months.

2 ) The second phase relates to the in situ implementation of the subregional and national DIS/EISIs. This phase lasts 30 months.

During this second phase, the four subregional DIS/EISIs and 28 national DIS/EISIs are gradually set up in a programmed fashion. In parallel to this, the specialized tools such as GISWEB are improved, transferred and incorporated into the EISIs.

A consortium made up of UNITAR, ITU, UNEP and UNOPS is set up around OSS.

To ensure that all of this takes place in a spirit of partnership and in line with the various subregional contexts, the following responsibilities are envisaged:

 

Partners	Responsibilities
OSS: Autonomous international organization whose members are UMA, CILSS and IGAD and their respective member countries, as well as Egypt	·         Responsible for the programme: ensures political consistency vis-à-vis its programmes within the framework of CCD and consistency vis-à-vis the other conventions. ·         Is mandated by UMA to be the operator for DIS/EISI northern Africa. ·         Carries out a global evaluation of the programme on behalf of its members. ·         Operator for DIS/EISI Africa.
UNITAR: United Nations agency responsible for training	·         Operator responsible for implementation of the programme. ·         Ensures political consistency vis-à-vis the other environmental conventions. ·         Responsible for the training machinery. ·         Training of trainers. ·         Provision of training where necessary skills are unavailable in the location in question. ·         Strengthening of subregional capabilities. ·         Support for sub regions and countries on request.
CILSS-ECOWAS: Intergovernmental organization for western Africa	·         Responsible for EISI-WA regional project. ·         Ensures political consistency at the subregional level. ·         Responsible for the national projects of the countries in its subregion. ·         Western Africa operator.
UMA: Intergovernmental organization for northern Africa	·         Ensures political consistency at the subregional level. ·         Mandates OSS and its partners with respect to support for implementation of the EISI-UMA and national EISIs.
IGAD: Intergovernmental organization for eastern Africa	·         Responsible for the EISI-EA regional project as the environment component of the RIIS. ·         Support for national EISIs with the backing of OSS, UNITAR and UNEP.
SADC: Intergovernmental organization for southern Africa	·         To be defined.
ITU: United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications with a membership comprising Member States (governments and State operators) and Sector Members (private organizations, equipment manufacturers, etc.)	·         Technical support for telecommunications and Internet. ·         Assistance with training for the operator staff. ·         Technical and economic project studies. ·         Relations with the private sector and telecommunication operators in the countries in question: ad hoc assistance in negotiations with operators and in the purchase of equipment.
GRID-UNEP: United Nations operator for environmental databases	·         Technical support for GISWEB and databases. ·         Consistency with the various environmental programmes: UNEP NET.
UNOPS: Support services office for United Nations projects	·         Support for financial resource mobilization. ·         Support for finance management. ·         Consistency with other United Nations programmes. ·         Technical support for project assembly. ·         Satellite images.
UNSO-UNDP
Others to be defined	To be defined according to terms of reference and competencies.