Establishing environmental data collection centres

Agenda 21 recommends that relevant international organizations should develop practical recommendations for coordinated, harmonized collection and assessment of data at the national and international levels. These steps will be particularly relevant, as large quantities of data from satellite sources will need to be processed in the future. Developed countries and international organizations, as well as the private sector, should cooperate on request, in particular with developing countries, so as to facilitate their acquisition of this technology and know-how.

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 indicates that national and international data and information centres should set up continuous and accurate data-collection systems and make use of geographic information systems, expert systems, models and a variety of other techniques for the assessment and analysis of data.