ADB_book_18 April.qxp - Himalayan Document Centre - icimod

Figure 13.2: Framework for an Environmental Information DatabaseBIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTINPUTLAND WATER ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE BIODIVERSITYLand use Inland water pollution Air pollution Destruction of biodiversityDeforestation Utilization of inland water Climate change Loss of aquatic fishLand degradation Marine water pollution Wildlife tradeLand desertificationHabitat lossWaste disposalProtected areasSOCIOECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTPOPULATION HEALTH AGRICULTURECharacteristics of population Characteristics of health Agricultural productionPopulation growth Mortality incidences Livestock population & productionRural urban migration Noise pollution Use of agrochemicalsHealth educationPOVERTY TRANSPORATION TOURISMENERGY EDUCATION ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENTRenewable energyNonrenewable energyINDUSTRYENVIRONMENTALINFORMATIONDATABASEOUTPUTSTABLESGRAPHSMAPSNATURAL DISASTERSFLOOD HAZARD DROUGHT HAZARD CYCLONE EARTHQUAKE FOREST FIRESVOLCANOSLANDSLIDESPOLICIES AND INSTITUTIONSSTATUS OF EIASTATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND MANAGEMENTPARTICIPATION IN MAJOR GLOBAL CONVENTIONSSource: UNEP/EAP-AP—State of the Environment Data Collection and Reporting Training for South Asia (unpublished).continuous process to survey and monitor bothquantitative and qualitative assessment of theresources base or environmental conditions. Specificenvironmental problems require assessment ofexisting data structure and identification of datagaps. Proper institutional mechanisms allow sharingof data and information and will fill the data gaps. Aconcept of “information infrastructure” is emergingin which information is seen as infrastructure liketelecommunications or road infrastructure.Information infrastructure related to the environmentcan be seen as a broad policy, technical, financial,and institutional framework to promote and useenvironmental information. An informationinfrastructure on the environment will be the key tomanaging environmental problems. Such aninformation infrastructure on environment willfacilitate integrating environmental concerns intoeconomic development, tracking environmentalchanges and managing the environment, andpromoting environmental awareness to the public.Core Environmental InformationAlmost all environmental problems share commoninformation needs. These include basic descriptionsof such things as topography, land use/land cover,infrastructure, and demography (human activity) thatare common information denominators (UNEP andUNDP 1994). Such details can be considered the coreenvironmental information that will facilitate betterunderstanding within the context of the environmentalproblem (local, regional, and national) in itsfullest sense. The specific type of environmental andnatural resources information, however, will bedictated by the nature of the developmentinterventions for which it is designed.Development of core environmental datasets isoften labor and technology intensive, and they areexpensive to produce and update (UNEP and UNDP1994). These core datasets provide a wide variety ofuses specific to a given location; for instance, landuse information is needed to address manyenvironmental problems, but often no single use canjustify the cost of development. Focusing onenvironmental assessment and sustainable developmentstrategies, a broad-based symposium organizedby UNEP and UNDP identified ten high-prioritycore environmental datasets that are central to manytypes of studies related to environmental assessment.These are: land use and cover, demographics,hydrology, infrastructure, climatology, topography,economy, soils, air quality, and water quality.In Nepal, many different government agencieshave mandates to generate and maintain coreinformation, but the availability of information variesfrom theme to theme and data gaps persist.Chapter 13: Environmental Information, Analysis, and Integration195