The Principle of Free Access to Environmental Information
European Environmental Internet
Initiatives
Konrad L. Zirm, Austrian Federal Environment Agency, Vienna
Werner Pillmann, International Society for Environmental Protection
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Summary
The two "Environmental Decades" 1975 - 1995 have enabled to
establish various environmental legislative activities throughout Europe. The
right to access Environmental Information reserved to administration has given
a chance for the public to get an inside into the authorities data and
knowledge about the environment. Some of the Austrian efforts to apply the
Council Directive 90/313/EEC, to support NGOs especially in Central and Eastern
Europe, funding inter alia the CEDAR and MERCURE programs, are presented. The
recent intensive development of the popular Internet, WWW etc. has given a new
chance to both the public and the environmental administration to communicate
between each others. Activities directed by the Federal Ministry for
Environment, Youth and Family and related programs executed by the
International Society for Environmental Protection (ISEP) are presented.
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Opening Environmental Information to the Public
Free access to environmental Information and Data was a long desired aim
of the public in almost all European countries dating back to the Stockholm
UN-Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 and before.
The US-Government with the Right to Know Act and other laws have demonstrated
the way how administrations can treat the problem of public information in
general.
It took almost one decade to realize a European legislation such as the Council
Directive 90/313/EEC, freedom of access to information on the environment. A
further step with a broader approach was introduced with the 5th Action Program
of the European Communities and the implementation of the "Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development" (Earth Summit `92, 1992), including Agenda 21,
Chapter 40 and others.
Austria as one of the environmentally minded countries in Europe has
taken serious steps to
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support Central and Eastern European Countries for a break through in their
environmental efforts after the fall of the iron curtain. At that time, Austria
was one of the founding countries of the Regional Environmental Center (REC) in
Budapest. In addition the partner institution Central European Environmental
Data Request Facility (CEDAR) was established in Vienna to support those
countries with data and access to global Information Systems.
- Another important contribution was the decision to fund and to install
together with five other European countries the first global Environmental
Information Network MERCURE to be operated by the UN-Environmental Programme.
The Austrian Federal Information Act, coming into force in 1993 was one
of the important steps towards an active information policy of the Federal
Government, taking into account that the Council Information Directive had to
be implemented into national law.
In addition to the general rules, the Act contains (SS10) an obligatory
Environmental Data Catalogue (Umweltdatenkatalog, UDK) as a metainformation
system which allows the public an insight into the data- and information
situation of authorities, executing federal environmental law. The number of
such administration units owning or collecting data and information on a local,
regional or federal level includes approximately 340 institutions.
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Umweltdatenkatalog (UDK)
To satisfy the specific need to store, update and exchange metainformation
by means of a special data base system, an international cooperation
was developed to allow cost sharing and to prohibit "reinventing the
wheel". For this reason a cooperation between the Federal Ministry
for Environment, Youth and Family and the Ministry for Environment
in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, Germany) has been started and finally
a negotiation between the German and Austrian Federal Ministries for
Environment was established in 1993 to build a common UDK-system. The
main task of this software development was provided from Niedersachsen
(Hannover) whereas Austria had to coordinate an Environmental Thesaurus
to be implemented in the UDK, utilizing the German UBA-Thesaurus.
2.1 Initiative of German speaking Countries (DACHL)
The countries Germany (D), Austria (A), Switzerland (CH) and Liechtenstein
(L) have decided to cooperate intensively inter alia in the field of
environmental Information. This led to the fact, that the UDK is being
introduced in those countries. In addition to the German language,
English, Italian and French are being introduced into the UDK system;
This UDK-System finally was the trigger of the European multilingual
Environmental Metainformation System just being under development.
As a consequence of the various international cooperation activities, the
European Environment Agency (EEA) foster the development of a European
Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS), carried out by the Land Niedersachsen
(European Topic Center, CDS) in cooperation with ISEP (Technical
Secretariat esp. for the Thesaurus development, see paragraph 6).
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Internet and WWW the Public Information Platform
Applications such as the UDK, CDS, Thesaurus collections and other
environmental information systems found that the Internet would be an almost
ideal carrier for its nation- and worldwide publication. More than two years
ago, the Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family has started to make
intensively use of the Internet. The technical infrastructure for several
Web-server systems has been installed at the International Society for
Environmental on behalf of the Ministry.
Though, Austria was one of the first European countries that presented
Environmental Data and Information by means of Gopher and Web-Technology in the
Internet.
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ISEP and the Role of NGOs
The International Society for Environmental Protection (ISEP) was
founded in 1987 to establish a global platform for environmental information
exchange. Funding for the Society is provided by its members - companies and
research institutions - concerned with environmental protection, sustainable
development, and related stress-reducing strategies for humans and ecological
systems.
One instrument to foster environmental information transfer is conference
organization. ISEP organized three ENVIROTECH conferences on waste management
two international forums on ENERGY RESOURCES, on ENVIRONMENT-RELATED MARKET
ECONOMY, on ENVIRONMENT-RELATED REGULATIONS and on DIOXINES AND FURANES. Two
events focused attention to ISEP: the ENVIROTOUR conferences combined with an
award, where "Strategies for Reducing the Environmental Impact of Tourism" and
"Environmentally Sound Tourism - Towards a Change in Attitudes and Practices"
were presented. A further conference ENVIROINFO scheduled for 1997, will
address the collection and use of environmental data, public access to
information, and international environmental legislation.
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CEDAR
In 1991, ISEP was selected by the Austrian Federal Ministry for
Environment, Youth and Family (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Jugend und
Familie, BMUJF) to develop and expand the Central European Environmental Data
Request Facility. The CEDAR project of ISEP provides computing and Internetwork
facilities to support international data exchange with the Central and Eastern
European environmental community and the UNEP.
The in-house computer and telecommunications infrastructure supports:
- access/communications with remote network hosts and information providers
(telnet, FTP, Gopher, World Wide Web)
- global database search and retrieval
- subscription lists, bulletin boards, and on-line querying of CEDAR in-house
databases
In 1992, CEDAR started its cooperation with the United Nations Environmental
Program INFOTERRA Network, UNEP's global information exchange
program. Designated as the INFOTERRA Internet node and Regional Service Centre
for Central and Eastern Europe, CEDAR is working with the Austrian National
Focal Point (NFP) at the Austrian Federal Environmental Agency and other
regional & global NFPs to support environmental information
dissemination.
The Gopher and (since 1994) World Wide Web Internet servers hosted by CEDAR
(gopher://gopher.cedar.univie.ac.at and
http://www.cedar.univie.ac.at) have
been extraordinarily successful. The servers enable CEDAR to provide
clearinghouse duties to a large, international audience. By installing and
maintaining the servers, CEDAR acts as a world wide host system for a loose
consortium of environmental information providers. There are only few
comparable environmental servers in Europe, and the consortium's goal is to
continually develop the material made available through the servers by
encouraging others to contribute resources for the network community.
Several Projects were supported by CEDAR, e.g.:
Central and Eastern European EcoDirectory Project
In cooperation with an USAID-funded group CEDAR SUPPORTED the
development of an "EcoDirectory" for librarians and information specialists in
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). CEDAR's contribution is to maintain the
electronic versions administered by WWF U.S.A and the Wladislaw Poniecki
Foundation and to update the contents with the help of the national coordinators.
International Organization of Information Specialists (IOIS)
The International Organization of Information Specialists was created to
oversee the ongoing development of the EcoDirectory through technical and
education-oriented committees. The IOIS also addresses regional network
connectivity issues and training for the Internet.
CEED Database
CEED, the Central and Eastern European Environmental Expert Database,
highlights regional experts, their institutes, research, and publications
(including grey literature). This in-house database, compiled by CEDAR and the
Regional Environmental Center (REC, Budapest) is a useful tool for CEE
institutions and the general scientific community.
UN Environmental Program for the Danube River Basin
The Danube Information System (DANIS) provides information on experts,
administrative activities, conferences, research projects, consulting services,
and companies working in the Danube River Basin. ISEP, with the CEDAR project,
is in charge of the collection of Austrian data for DANIS. The data coming from
the riparian countries of the Danube will be standardized by the Center for
Eco-Information & Terminology in Bratislava. The data will subsequently be
processed by CEDAR and made available on the CEDAR WWW server.
HABITAT II
CEDAR is working with the United Nations Center for Human Settlements
(UNCHS Habitat) to provide the dissemination of Habitat and Habitat II "The
City Summit" conference-related information. The Habitat II conference will
take place between June 3-14, 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey, and electronic
communication will play an integral role in allowing world-wide groups to
participate. CEDAR is hosting the Habitat II network subscription list and
documentation on the CEDAR server.
CEDAR has set up subscription lists to allow communication between
partners involved in environmental activities. Some Examples are:
INFOTERRA (INFOTERRA@cedar.univie.ac.at)
This is the publicly accessible subscription list of Infoterra announced
in May 1994. It offers official United Nations Environmental Program press
releases, conference announcements, information on network resources, and a
world-wide discussion platform for individuals and groups interested in
environmental issues. Currently there are 1400 direct subscribers.
ENVENG-L (ENVENG-L@cedar.univie.ac.at)
CEDAR is the host for this dedicated list on environmental engineering
issues. Approx. 1400 subscribers.
EIA (EIA@cedar.univie.ac.at)
This list concentrates on environmental impact assessment (EIA) issues.
It's a joint project with the UN Environmental Program. During its first month
of operation, so far it attracted 600 subscribers.
HABITAT2 (HABITAT2@cedar.univie.ac.at)
This list will primarily target the global NGO environmental community.
It will provide Habitat II conference announcements (e.g. PrepComs), UNCHS
documentation, discussion of conference objectives and issues, daily
dissemination of information during the conference, and the compilation of
subscription list materials and related Habitat documentation for archiving on
the Internet through the Gopher and WWW servers. (so far 500 subscribers of 900
expected).
>ENVJOBS-L (ENVJOBS-L@cedar.univie.ac.at)
CEDAR is moderating this international list for the mediation of
environmental jobs, which was established in response to discussions
originating on the ENVENG-List. More than 5000 subscribers.
ENV-THES
Beginning with July 1996 a new list on Environmental Thesaurus and
Terminology is planned. This might be a list of high relevance to these
subscriber who are interested in the joint development of the Catalogue of Data
Sources CDS within the European Union.
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ISEPs Technical Support
A special item on CEDAR is dedicated to information from the Austrian
Ministry for Environment, including documentation on the Environmental
Information Law (since January 1993), which regulates public access to
environmental data. Due to the Environmental law, the Environmental Data
Catalogue (Umweltdatenkatalog - UDK) has been developed. Furthermore, the
Ministry enhanced the UDK with an Installation for the World-Wide-Web based on
tools and techniques developed for the Environmental Information System
Baden-Württemberg (Germany) in the Forschungszentrum Informatik FZI,
Karlsruhe (Kramer et al. 1995). On a special server ISEP hosts the Austrian
Catalogue of Data Sources under http://udk.bmu.gv.at
and periodically updates
the UDK with new data, collected on behalf of the Austrian Ministry.
Furthermore CEDAR acted as an information host for the BMUJF from 1993
to early 1996. Now the Federal Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family
(BMUJF) operates its own Internet server at
http://www.bmu.gv.at,
technically supported by ISEP. An access has been given to the maintainers of
various sections like "National Parks" and the "Austrian Council on Climate
Change" of the BMUJF-server.
ISEP is designated to take over the operation of the Vienna based
MERCURE Telecommunication B-Station to support access from CEE-Countries to the
global UNEP-Network and to guarantee its functioning.
The System will start working this summer (1996) and will be fully operational
with approximately 16 Stations worldwide in spring 1997. The main protocol will
be TCP/IP and several gateways to the global Internet will be available.
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European Topic Centre on Catalogue of Data Sources
In the end of 1995 the International Society for Environmental
Protection (ISEP) has become the Technical Secretariat of the European Topic
Centre on Catalogue of Data Sources (ETC/CDS). This project has been
initiated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in Copenhagen, and is
directed by the Ministry of Environment of Lower Saxony in Hannover, Germany.
The following European countries are now actively participating in the project
as consortium members or associated partners: Austria, Denmark (EEA), France,
Germany, Italy, Netherland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
The objective of the project is the building of a European Environmental
catalogue of meta-data. As an important instrument for the environmental data
catalogue, a multilingual environmental Thesaurus and an environmental
Terminology for the uniform coding of the data are developed with technical
support and coordination of ISEP.
The following task groups have been established:
- CB4: Terminology and Coding
- CB5: Multilingual Thesaurus
- CB6: Catalogue of Data Sources
- CB7: Organization, Meta Data Model
- CB8: Software Development
- CB9: Networking
ISEP is responsible for the contents of the task groups CB 4 and CB5, with the
direction of the compartment CB 4, Terminology and Coding. Within in this
activitity ISEP is open for all cooperation and participation from other
partners throughout Europe.
In order to be credible, a European terminology database and thesaurus must be
endorsed by all countries, i.e. the efforts and investments of several
individual countries have to be acknowledged.
The main goal for establishment of a terminology database is to support all EEA
and EIONET activities by providing a standardised terminology and coding
guidelines, thereby promoting the exchange of European environmental data and
information. The terminology database will represent one of the major EEA
achievements towards its main objective: to provide comparable and consistent
information to the Community and the Member States.
The plan is to establish a database which will be installed by ISEP and will be
available through WWW by gathering/compiling terminology from existing sources.
Afterwards it should become an integrated part of EEAs and the ETCs
workprogramme to maintain the database and to include topic-specific
terminology.
The EEA requirement for a thesaurus is for a product supporting
- multilingual searching and querying the EEA/CDS
- all other indexing/classification activities of EEA /EIONET, including
library documentation
- translation services
The classification scheme for the Thesaurus will support a hierarchical
indexing of the CDS objects. The structure should reflect as far as possible
the EIONET organisation (the responsibilities of the various ETCs) and
structures already found usable by the EEA (the organisation of the Dobris
report, etc.).
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References
- Austria National Environmental Plan. Federal Ministry of the
Environment, Vienna 1995
- Bardinet C., Dubois J.E., Caliste et al.: Data Processing for the
Environmental Analysis: a Multicsale Approach. In: Space and Time in
Environmental Information Systems. 9th Internat. Symposium on
Computer Science for Environmental Protection, Kremers H., Pillmann W. (Eds.),
Metropolis Publ. Marburg (Germany) 1995
- Bericht des Bundesministers für Umwelt über die Erfahrungen mit der
Vollziehung des Umweltinformationsgesetzes (UIG). BMU, Vienna 1995
- Bjarnason B., Herlitze R., Pinorg U. (eds.): Catalogue of Data Sources and
Thesaurus. Implementation Reference Document, Draft version 0.2, European
Environment Agency, Kopenhagen 1996
- Eath Summit `92. Quarrie J. et al. (eds.). The Regency Press Corp., London
1992
- First International Workshop "Catalogue of Data Sources (CDS) and Thesaurus"
- User Experiences with Environment Thesauri in CDS. Publication Series
Umweltdatenkatalog, Vol. 8, Federal Ministry for Environment, Vienna 1996
- Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment in the United Kingdom - A
User's Guide to the Environmental Information Regulations and EU Directive
90/313.Stichting Natuur en Milieu (Utrecht, Netherlands) and Foundation for
International Environmental Law and Development (London), 1994
- Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting. Studies in Methods Series
F, No. 61 United Nations, Department for Economic and Social Information and
Policy Analysis, NY, 1993
- Kramer R., Nikolai R., Keitel A.: Enhancing the Environmental Data Catalogue
UDK for the World-Wide-Web. Internal description for the BMUJF, 1995
- Metadatenklassen im Umwelt-Datenkatalog (UDK). Schriftenreihe des BMU, Wien
1995
- Pillmann W.: Austausch von Umweltinformation (Exchange of Environmental
Information. In: Umweltinformatik, Page B., Hilty L.M. (eds.) Oldenbourg Publ.,
Munich (Germany) 1995
- Pillmann W.: Netzwerke und Netzwerkbildung. (Networks and Communication -
Access to regional relevant environmental information on the example on CEDAR).
In. Informatik für den Umweltschutz, Hilty L.M., Jaeschke A., Page B.. et
al. (eds.), Metropolis Publ. Marburg (Germany) 1994
- Svoboda W., Lessing H.: The European Environmental Agencies Approach to Data
Cataloguing. In: Workshop on the Availability of Arctic Environmental Data in
Russia. International Artic Environmental Data Directory and Ministry for
Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of the Russian Federation,
Moscow 1995
- Umweltdatenkatalog in Österreich. Bericht über
UDK-Aktivitäten. BMU, Vienna 1995
- van Dieren W.: Mit der Natur rechnen. Birkhäuser, Basel/Boston/Berlin
1995
- Weizsäcker E.U. von, Lovins A.B., Lovins L.H.: Faktor Vier. (Report to
the Club of Rome) Droemer Knaur, Munich (Germany) 1995
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