strategy

Undertaking environmental monitoring and assessments

Synonyms:

Increasing environmental reporting
Maintaining environmental information systems
Providing environmental reports
Improving environmental monitoring

Context:

Integrated environmental assessment needs to be firmly based on reliable technical data and information. Environmental progress and policy effectiveness can be assessed only if quality data are routinely collected through monitoring systems. However, environmental monitoring infrastructure is poorly developed in most countries, making regular production of policy-relevant environmental data and indicators impossible. The situation is being exacerbated by the decline of some existing monitoring systems due to shrinking resources.

Implementation:

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Agenda 21 recommends:

Claim:

Environmental assessments need data that are geo-referenced and information that is broken down by spatial areas other than administrative units. These data are still relatively scarce.

Broader:

Monitoring
Capturing environmental value
Managing ecosystems sustainably
Evaluating environmental performance
Reconciling environmental concerns and development needs
Developing methods that safeguard environmental quality

Narrower:

Establishing criteria for monitoring forest resources
Reporting sources of environmental information used by international organizations
Reporting on global environmental status
Producing state-of-environment reports
Producing environmental resource inventories
Monitoring pollution
Monitoring biodiversity
Monitoring desertification
Monitoring ozone depletion
Monitoring global environment
Collecting environmental data
Assessing environmental impacts
Auditing environmental parameters
Monitoring environmental pollution
Establishing local monitoring group
Improving environmental health monitoring
Monitoring changes in the marine environment
Producing national environmental action plans
Conducting natural resources damage assessments
Creating environmental monitoring and assessment systems
Integrating climate change and environmental monitoring programmes
Monitoring progress on integrating environment and development goals
Undertaking community monitoring of resources
Practicing corporate environmental self-assessment
Monitoring pollution hazards of industrial research

Facilitates:

Strengthening scientific and technological capacity

Facilitated by:

Involving civil society in environmental issues

Problems:

Inadequate environmental monitoring

Organizations:

Mediterranean Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (MEDNET)
Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET)
African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD)
Agreement Regarding Monitoring of the Stratosphere
Arab Network for Radiation Monitoring and Early Warning
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)
Arrangement on the Joint Financing of a North Atlantic Height Monitoring System
Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP)
Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP)
East Asia Nature Conservation Research Monitoring and Training Centre
Europe-Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM)
Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)
Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS)
Global Marine Pollution Monitoring System (MARPOLMON)
Global Fire Monitoring Centre (GFMC)
International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems (ICP-IM)
UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UN Environment WCMC)
INTERACT - International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT)
Network of Reference Laboratories for Monitoring of Emerging Environmental Pollutants (NORMAN Network)
Water Monitoring Alliance (WMA)
World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)
IGU Commission on Geographical Monitoring and Forecasting
Global Institute for Water, Environment and Health (GIWEH)
International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations (IUAPPA)
Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network (HoA-REN)
International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (IEMSS)
West African Association for Environmental Assessment (WAAEA)
Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA)
Committee on Environmental Policy
European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
Environmental Management Accounting Network (EMAN)
European Environment Information and Observation Network (EIONET)
International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE)
Amazon Environmental Research Institute
Global Environmental Information Exchange Network (INFOTERRA)

Subjects:

Amenities → Maintenance
Commerce → Assessment
→ Systems
Development → Reform
Environment → Environment
Information → Information
Research, Standards → Inspection, tests

Type Classification:

E: Emanations of other strategies

Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:

GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

GOAL 15: Life on Land

GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal

About the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a unique, experimental research work of the Union of International Associations. It is currently published as a searchable online platform with profiles of world problems, action strategies, and human values that are interlinked in novel and innovative ways. These connections are based on a range of relationships such as broader and narrower scope, aggravation, relatedness and more. By concentrating on these links and relationships, the Encyclopedia is uniquely positioned to bring focus to the complex and expansive sphere of global issues and their interconnected nature.

The initial content for the Encyclopedia was seeded from UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations. UIA’s decades of collected data on the enormous variety of association life provided a broad initial perspective on the myriad problems of humanity. Recognizing that international associations are generally confronting world problems and developing action strategies based on particular values, the initial content was based on the descriptions, aims, titles and profiles of international associations.

About UIA

The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre, based in Brussels. It was established in 1907, by Henri la Fontaine (Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1913), and Paul Otlet, a founding father of what is now called information science.

Non-profit, apolitical, independent, and non-governmental in nature, the UIA has been a pioneer in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907.