Environmental information system

To date, the term environmental information system ( UIS ) has been defined very differently. Since the mid-1970s, institutions of the state and federal authorities for computer-aided environmental monitoring were initially referred to as UIS. Today it is mostly used to refer to databases or computer programs that are used to manage, record and process environmental data. Environmental information is made available to the public. Geographic information systems (GIS) are also used to a large extent .

Data basis

Its large-scale (detailed) basic data come from land information systems and other spatial primary data (e.g. cadastre and environmental protection , measurements and analyzes of soil, water and air, environmental satellites , geology , etc.). As in other systems, they consist of geometry and factual data ( attributes ).

The small-scale data are usually aggregated , classified or come from statistics , i.e. they represent summarized secondary data :

• Condition of the soil (e.g. from soil science ),
• Nature and condition of water bodies and groundwater ,
• Air quality , emissions , immissions ,
• Secondary data on factories , environmental protection , etc.

While the basic data is mostly static, the small-scale data can change constantly. This applies in particular to measurement data in the air, e.g. B. with smog . In Germany, an ozone alarm was triggered for the first time on July 26, 1994 for the federal state of Hesse , because the concentration of 180 micrograms per cubic meter had been exceeded; Tempo 90 on motorways and Tempo 80 on country roads for three days.

Classification

In addition to the state environmental information systems, which are used for official monitoring and information for citizens, a distinction is made between company environmental information systems (BUIS) , environmental instruments of strategic management (USM) and environmental decision support systems (UEUS).

BUIS	USM	UEUS
Defense against immediate ecological dangers Control and compliance with legal requirements	Recognizing ecology-induced market opportunities and risks	Early detection of ecological structural crises
Life cycle assessments Hazardous material sheets Ecological accounting Automatic measuring and control systems	Ecology portfolio Product line analysis Value chain Checklists	Impact analysis Scenario techniques Computer simulation Micro Worlds

tasks and goals

• Monitoring the state of the environment
• Effectiveness control of environmental protection measures
• Provide the public with information on the situation of environmental media (air, water, soil), environmental technologies, specialist literature and maps
• Identify risk factors for accident prevention and accident management
• Environmental data preparation for the planning of infrastructure measures
• Help function for the implementation of environmental policy
• "Trigger" for the establishment of a company environmental information system (BUIS)

Examples of UIS

• European Environment Information and Observation Network (EU)
• IMIS : Integrated measurement and information system for radioactivity in Germany
• various environmental data catalogs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• the environmental information system Baden-Württemberg (a state environmental portal )
• the GEO portal in the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)
• the United Nations Environment Program-Global Resource Information Database (UNEP-GRID), a network of the United Nations Environment Program with global maps and graphics.

The State Office for Nature and Environment in Schleswig-Holstein presents an example of environmental information without a central database at the level of a federal state : decentralized specialist information systems for waste monitoring , contaminated sites , plant monitoring and state emissions registers , soil, hazardous substances , health environmental protection, air quality , Wadden Sea National Park , Nature conservation and landscape management , water management are made available in an environmental data catalog and linked to a geodata server .

Legal basis

With Directive 2003/4 / EC (Environmental Information Directive) , the Aarhus Convention for the right to free access to environmental information was incorporated into European Union law. The German and Austrian Environmental Information Act implement access to information in the national law of both countries.

For Switzerland, the Environmental Protection Act (Art. 6) is the basis:

• ¹ The authorities provide the public with appropriate information on environmental protection and the status of environmental pollution
• ² The environmental protection agencies (Art. 42) advise authorities and private individuals
• ³ They recommend measures to reduce environmental pollution
• Art. 42: The Federal Office is the federal agency .

"In the case of geographic information, meteorological information and statistical data, the specialist legislation must also be observed".

Switzerland's support for UNEP / GRID-Geneva , the component set up in 1985 in the United Nations' environmental information system, was approved by the Federal Council in 1998. At that time, the cooperation with UNEP , which still exists today (2013) , and a cooperation with the University of Geneva were agreed . This gives Switzerland access to knowledge about the oceans, the global climate and other GEO data.

The international GEOSS project , to which the EU is contributing with Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), also called the European Earth monitoring program by the EU, is also current . The Baveno Manifesto was signed on May 19, 1998 and approved by the European Council in 2001. The legal basis is also Regulation (EU) No. 911/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2010 on the European Earth Observation Program (GMES) and its first operational activities (2011-2013) . In addition to the goals and tasks, this also defines the budget of 107 million euros for the GMES program until 2013. The text of the regulation can be accessed in all EU languages ​​via EUR-Lex ( CELEX -Nr. 32010R0911).

The task is also to provide data for disaster and crisis management and the handling of humanitarian crises. GMES should be a complement to the future common environmental information system of the EU (SEIS) . In the case of GMES data, the correspondence with the spatial reference data of the member states should be maintained and the development of the spatial data infrastructure in the Union in accordance with Directive 2007/2 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14, 2007 on the creation of a spatial data infrastructure in the European Community (INSPIRE) .

On freedom of information: (38) "GMES information should be complete and freely accessible, without prejudice to any relevant security restrictions or the respective data policies of the Member States and other organizations that contribute data and information to GMES".

The Austrian Federal Environment Agency and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety also provide a legal overview of the ongoing development of SEIS . The European Environment Agency (EEA) and EIONET are to work closely with SEIS in the future.

literature

• Peter Fischer-Stabel (Ed.): Environmental information systems . Wichmann, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-87907-423-2 .
• Gerd Rainer Wagner (ed.): Business administration and environmental protection . Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-7910-0696-7 .

Web links

• Standing Committee on Environmental Information Systems (StA UIS). u. a. with system descriptions of the German federal states
• Information from the Federal Environment Agency Austria
• Environmental information system Baden-Württemberg
• Product environmental information - Information from the Federal Office for the Environment (Switzerland)
• Excerpts from: Peter Fischer-Stabel (Ed.): Environmental Information Systems. Wichmann, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-87907-423-2 with international, national and regional system examples

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rethinking with tears . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 1994 ( online ).
2. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de
3. ↑ Hans Jessen, Tasks and Concept of a Nature and Environmental Information System for Schleswig-Holstein (NUIS-SH) , accessed on February 26, 2013.
4. ↑ Lebensministerium.at, Access to environmental information based on the EU Environmental Information Directive 2003/4 / EC, as well as the Environmental Information Act , accessed on February 26, 2013.
5. ↑ Swiss Confederation, Environmental Protection Act , accessed on February 25, 2013.
6. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Federal Office for the Environment, search term environmental information , accessed 25 February 2013.
7. ^ FOEN, Agreement between Switzerland, UNEP and the University of Geneva: Swiss support for the UN Environmental Data Center in Geneva , accessed on February 25, 2013.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Regulation (EU) No. 911/2010 (PDF) of September 22, 2010 on the European Earth Observation Program ( GMES) and its first operational activities (2011–2013), Official Journal No. L 276 of 20/10/2010 p . 0001 - 0010
9. ^ Austrian Federal Environment Agency, Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) , accessed on February 25, 2013.
10. ↑ Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUB), Geoinformation in the EU, IMAGI, INSPIRE, GMES, GEOSS , status: Oct 2012

Please note the information on legal issues!