EMIS - UN-Habitat

Building an Environmental Management Information System
A1
Cities and the environment
Cities play a vital role in social and economic development. Efficient and productive
cities are essential for national economic growth, and, equally, strong urban economies
are essential for generating the resources needed for public and private investments
in infrastructure, education and health, improved living conditions and poverty
alleviation.
Unfortunately, the development potential of cities is all too often crippled by
environmental deterioration. Aside from its obvious effects on human health and
well being (especially of the poor), environmental degradation impedes economic
development. For development achievements to be truly “sustainable”, cities must
focus on balancing the needs and pressures of urban growth and development with
the opportunities and constraints of the urban environment.
Environmental deterioration is not inevitable. Although many cities – perhaps even
most – are still suffering severe environmental and economic damage, there are
encouraging signs. Some cities are learning how to better plan and more effectively
manage the process of urban development, avoiding or alleviating environmental
problems while realising the positive potentials of city growth and change.
All development ultimately depends on environmental goods and services: the
management of these resources is therefore an integral concern in urban development
planning and management. However, the tools available to decision-makers for
influencing development towards optimal and sustainable use of environmental
resources are limited. To be effective, they must be applied in a consistent and
co-ordinated fashion. Environmental resource management uses information to
reconcile competing interests (i.e. environmental policy co-ordination) and to support
development decision-making (i.e. policy implementation).
A2
The role of information in planning and management
All planning and management activities require information. The challenge is (a) to
determine what data and information is needed; (b) to find out if this already exists
and where; (c) how to get hold of it if it exists, and how to collect it if it does not;
(d) how to store this information in easily accessible and referenced form; (e) how
to interpret the data, resolve questions of quality, contradictions and incompleteness;
(f) how to determine who needs the information, when and in what form(s); and (g)
how to disseminate it as required.
If these steps are formalised, institutionalised and made sustainable, one can talk of
an information system rather than an ad hoc data gathering exercise. By formalised,
we mean standardised and explicit procedures and formats, which at the same time are
flexible and not rigid; by institutionalised, we refer to the integration of the system into
a permanent organisational structure, independent of any critical individual input; by
sustained we mean that the system receives ongoing support in the form of necessary
resources (funding, staffing, etc.) and “political” backing, that its services are actively
sought, and that it satisfies this demand.
Management Information Systems provide concise, to-the-point and timely information
which is directly usable by decision-makers in making decisions or formulating
actions. The key words are concise: a decision-maker usually is very busy, and does
not have time to assimilate more than a page or two at any given time; to-the-point:
the manager wants to know what the information means and what she or he can do
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