E. Use of assessment data in undertaking functions

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E. Use of assessment data in undertaking functions

a. Monitoring and Assessment

Monitoring

The importance of monitoring

There are several reasons why monitoring is conducted. In the private sector for instance, monitoring can be used to obtain data, in which the data is used as a 'protection' against action by a regulatory agency or other interest groups. At the national level, monitoring is necessary for obtaining data to produce documents to meet regulatory commitments, such as the formulation of the National State of Environment Report and in policy development and planning for sustainable development.

However, the use of monitoring, which will be discussed in this section, focuses on the importance of monitoring as a tool to integrate environmental considerations into planning at the sub-national level and integration of local/sub-national level considerations into national policy making.

Environmental monitoring by government agencies and institutions in many countries has focused on certain environmental concerns, such as the quality of air, water and other natural resources. Monitored data are transformed into information that show environmental trends and effectiveness of past mitigation measure which are vital for environmental management. This information is utilized in the state of environment report.

NGOs and community-based organizations also play a significant role in collecting and disseminating information to the community and to all spheres of government. (Source: State of the Environment Report 2000, ENRDD, ESCAP)

Example

New South Wales, Australia: Streamwatch programme

"Streamwatch" is an environmental action network, supported by the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation (DLWC), to educate and empower communities to monitor water quality around their area. DLWC is interested in information regarding water pollution incidents so that it can act upon the incident and fix the problem with the information available. (More...)

The most often cited constraints in relation to environmental quality monitoring in developing countries, particularly in the rural areas, relate to are

inadequacy of funds
lack of manpower
lack of training
low coverage of monitoring
low frequency of monitoring (This is especially so when the monitoring cover a wide area.)

(Source: State of the Environment Report 2000, ENRDD, ESCAP)

Role of the sub-national government in monitoring

Local level governments are usually assigned by the national government to conduct monitoring programmes on the changing environmental conditions as they are closely related and mostly affected by the local environmental problems. They usually have better insights into the problems and how to handle the problems as well.

Data obtained from monitoring by local governments are extremely useful for the local officials to make sustainable decisions; it can also help national level governments to make country policies with more considerations for the effects on the local communities.

Thus, monitoring is a very important tool that governments can use to reshape their decision-making processes into being more integrated. And integration in this respect; includes both integration of environment considerations into development, and integration of local level concerns into the national level policy decisions.

Monitoring constraints

Unfortunately, in many countries, including many developed countries, it has been the experience of many professionals that monitoring tends to be poorly focused and without clear sets of program objectives. The consequence is that these programs are inefficient and do not provide the level of information that is needed to provide an effective tool for managing environmental concerns. (Source: International Environmental Technology Center (IETC))

See also

China: Development and environmental management in Shenyang City

Shenyang was the first city in China to create air pollution predictions. It was done through an environmental monitoring programme where collection of air quality data was exercised. Such predictions are beneficial to environmental education and awareness raising among the population. (More...)

Assessment

Environmental assessment or an overview of environmental problems of a country or an area is an essential prerequisite not only for environmental accounting but also for overall policy planning.

Example

Sri Lanka: Sectoral Environmental Assessment (SEA) -Tea Sector

Sectoral Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the tea sector in Sri Lanka has not been carried out strictly in the above sense. However, cultivation and processing activities of tea have been assessed separately from an environmental point of view, which may be construed as a form of Sector Environment Assessment (SEA) of the tea sector. The salient features of the above assessment are as follows (More...)

Effective assessment needs a comprehensive information system. However, a review of the information base of many countries in the region shows four shortcomings in the assessment and reporting on the State of Environment.

Lack of quality control in data collection and laboratory analysis of samples.
Basic data available are often not adequate to make a realistic environmental assessment.
Statistical compatibility on environmental parameters is far from satisfactory.
Environmental assessment becomes subjective in the absence of indicators of sustainable development.

(Source: State of the Environment Report 2000, ENRDD, ESCAP)

Environmental monitoring and assessment in the region, despite having improved considerably over recent years, there remains some major institutional constraints in some countries. These constraints include

Inadequate legislative and institutional arrangements.
Methods used for assessing environmental problems tend to be devised and implemented in an isolated and diffused manner
Lack or absence of coordinating mechanisms intra-country and inter-sectoral exchange of experience leading to data incompatibility, overlaps and conflicts in enforcement.

In the developing countries of the region, environmental monitoring and assessment still requires strengthening in terms of

standardization of monitoring network system design; sampling and analytical methodologies;
quality control in data collection and laboratory analysis;
national procedures for harmonizing data collection; and
improving the access to data of researchers and interested citizens. There is also a need to
establish systems for collecting new benchmark data to assess the sustainability of resources, environment, health, population, and economics.

(Source: State of the Environment Report 2000, ENRDD, ESCAP)

Figure 1: The flow of environmental information starting from monitoring to reporting

b. Reporting

In recent years a large number of reports have been produced in the countries of the region at local, national and sub-regional levels. Some are produced as part of a commitment to the Agenda 21, such as the Country State of Environment Report and Local State of Environment Report. However, local level reports are relatively rare in the developing countries of the ESCAP region.

The task of environmental reporting is distributed among various agencies at the central, state and local levels. Data distribution is most useful when distributed to decision-makers and the public in a timely manner. This has been done through State of Environment (SoE) reports, although these are often constrained by the weaknesses of the existing mechanism for collecting data and their distribution at infrequent intervals. Progress in information technology could help mitigate these problems and initiatives that utilize mitigate these problem and initiatives that utilize e-mails, the internet and web pages have shown significant success in the timely dissemination of environmental information. (Source: State of the Environment Report 2000, ENRDD, ESCAP)

Example

Japan: Local state of the environmental reporting in Japan

The State of Environment Report in Japan is being conducted at the local level to present data on environmental condition along with countermeasures towards abatement. In addition, the Report includes considerations of environment and economic integration for decision-making. (More...)

c. Use of assessment data in undertaking functions

National government policy to decentralize autonomy and empower local governments have increased the functions and responsibilities of local governments in the areas of

Administrative: government administration, legal, human resources management, etc.
Social: public safety/welfare, community development, public work, etc.
Environmental: environmental protection, environmental safety, natural resource management, environmental monitoring, etc.
Others: support economic activities according to national or local policies

When undertaking functions related to environment and development, local governments face the challenge of balancing between two priorities; one is to increase and expand economic development activities, and the other, is to improve or at least maintain the local environmental and natural resources condition. In this particular type of situation, some local governments may find that they are facing a 'dilemma' or a 'conflict of priorities' because they believe that one accomplishment cannot be done without the sacrifice of the other, when in fact it does not necessarily have to be regarded that way.

It is possible, and there have been many successful cases, where local governments are able to balance between their role in economic development and role in environmental and natural resource conservation/restoration. One important tool that contributes to the success of balancing between the two priorities is the use of environmental assessment data in making policy decisions and undertaking functions.