| UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING | |
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| PROGRESS IN ORGANISING ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING (1971-1980) - (1981-1990) - (1991-present) | |
| PROGRESS IN ORGANISING ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING - 1971-1980 | |
| 1971 | Organisers of the 1972 Stockholm Conference convened a
meeting of experts in August 1971 in the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) to consider the need for global environmental monitoring
systems. ICSU/SCOPE prepared a draft booklet presenting the arguments for creating by international agreement a Central Monitoring Co-ordinating Unit, which would co-ordinate the monitoring activities of the global environment. This Draft booklet constituted the main background paper for the meeting. |
| 1972 | The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) adopted an Action Plan that included a global environmental assessment programme (Earthwatch). The concept of Earthwatch ([UN system-wide] or www.gsf.de/UNEP/earth.html) launched in the Action Plan of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment 1972. |
| 1973 | First Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) |
| 1974 | UNEP convened an Intergovernmental Meeting on Monitoring in Nairobi to consider the establishment of a Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) |
| 1975 | GEMS established as part of UNEP’s
Earthwatch Program, and is to be co-ordinated
by a Programme Activity Center within UNEP-(GEMS/PAC). 1975, GEMS/AIR programme becomes part of GEMS jointly managed by WHO (World Health Organisation)(www.who.int/) and UNEP, after being initiated by the WHO in 1973. |
1976 |
GEMS/Water programme initiated by UNEP
and WHO, with assistance of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Meteorological Organisation. (WMO) GEMS/Food programme initiated as a UNEP project carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in association with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. |
1979 |
The other program elements of "Environmental Assessment" became defacto elements under Earthwatch. These include, INFOTERRA, the Programme on Outer Limits, the International Register of Potential Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC), Environmental Data and State of the Environment (SoE). |
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PROGRESS IN ORGANISING ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING - 1991-Present |
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1991 |
1991, GRID became a programme activity centre (PAC) for itself. Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) assembly creates GOOS |
1992 |
The Global Climate Observing System
(GCOS)(www.WMO.ch/web/gcos/gcoshome.html) established by four international organisations;
WMO, IOC of UNESCO, UNEP, ICSU
(lmcp.jussieu.fr/icsu/), as part of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS) The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) (ioc.unesco.org/goos/) became part of IGOS where it gained additional sponsorship of the WHO, UNEP and ICSU. |
1996 |
The Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) established in January by five co-sponsoring organisations; UNEP, FAO, UNESCO, WMO, ICSU, which also became part of IGOS. |
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RECENT HISTORY OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING |
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Establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1973 and the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) were outcomes of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm in 1972. GEMS aimed to coordinate the collection of data on the global environment, especially the Earth’s atmosphere and climatic changes, environmental pollutants and their impact on the Earth’s renewable resources. ‘GEMS/WATER DATA SUMMARY 1988-1990 - introduction On its inception, GEMS’s objectives were:
The 1992 United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro represented a 20 year
review of progress of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Agenda 21 was an
action plan arising from UNCED. Chapter 40 (Information for decision making) recognised a
need to improve availability and quality of environmental information for decision making.
Proposed actions arising from Agenda 21 and the needs for sustainable development induced
GEMS to review and add the following to the original objectives:
[1] ‘GEMS/WATER DATA SUMMARY 1988-1990 - introduction http://cs715.cciw.ca/gems/summary/intro.html last accessed 10 September 1997 para 1 |
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ENVIRONMENT INFORMATION NETWORKING |
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Environment Information Networking (EIN) aims to provide an expanding knowledge base for the formulation of environmental management decisions, policies and action plans. It relies on an international cooperative effort and promotes accessibility of data and information between the producers and users of this information. One of the most important contributions expected of EIN is the next worldwide State of the Environment Report scheduled for the year 2002. Generation of this report will rely on the help of governments and institutions throughout the world. EIN coordinates and mobilises the institutional data and information resources of
GRID, INFOTERRA and ENRIN.
These were once separate components with similar techniques, strategies and actions. Integrating the three networks creates a more coherent
administrative framework while preserving their different and unique elements. |
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| GRID | UNEP established the Global Resource Information Database (GRID) in 1985 to store, manage and distribute data obtained from the GEMS programme. GRID’s main aim was to provide reliable data handling and analytical capabilities for the assessment of deforestation, climate change, desertification, ozone depletion and many other important environmental issues for the world community of researchers and policy makers. (The history of GRID) |
| INFOTERRA | Environmental Information Exchange (INFOTERRA) |
| ENRIN | The Environment and Natural Resource Information Network (ENRIN)assists capacity building of environmental information networks in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The main aim is to improve the availability of environmental data and information for decision makers and the general public. A sub project called UNEPnet will disseminate information globally through the Internet. |
|
TYPE |
MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS |
| Climate Related | Background Air Pollution Monitoring Network (BAPMoN) - World Glacier Inventory - Climate System Monitoring Project (CSM) |
| Health Related | Urban Air Pollution Monitoring Network (GEMS/Air) - Global Water Quality Monitoring Network (GEMS/water) - Joint Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World health Organisation (WHO) Food Contamination Monitoring Network (GEMS/Food) - Monitoring effects of environmental pollutants on Humans (Human Exposure Assessment Locations (HEAL)) (GEMS/heal) - Environmental Radiation Monitoring (GERMON) - Biological monitoring pilot project - Personal monitoring pilot project |
| Ocean monitoring | Integrated Global Ocean Station System (IGOSS) - Regional Seas Program |
| Long-range pollutant transport | European Monitoring Evaluation Program (EMEP) - Meteorological Synthesising Centre - East - Meteorological Synthesising Centre - West - Chemical Co-ordinating Centre |
| Terrestrial renewable resources | Tropical forests resources assessment - Tropical forest cover monitoring - Pastoral ecosystem monitoring in West Africa - desertification monitoring in Latin America - Soil degradation in North Africa and Middle East |
| World Conservation | WCMC - Monitoring Status of mammals - Monitoring status of birds - Trade in endangered species - Parks and protected areas - Coral reefs - Monitoring status of mammals - Monitoring status of European and North American cervids |
WORLD CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE |
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| The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), established in 1983, supports international programs for conservation and sustainable development by providing reliable scientific data on the world’s biological diversity. A program to geo-reference data on species, habitats and areas is in progress to produce a library of GIS files as part of the GRID programme. WCMC has five data management units: | |
TPU |
Threatened Plants Unit (TPU) holding records on approximately 52 000 plants in which 20 000 are considered threatened. |
SCMU |
Species Conservation Monitoring Unit (SCMU) holding records for 18 700 animal species. |
HDU |
Habitats Data Unit (HDU) holding extensive files on habitats of conservation concern and critical sites for the conservation of biological diversity within these habitats. Focusing on tropical rainforests, the HDU has extensive GIS files of forest distribution, wetlands and coral reefs |
PADU |
Protected Areas Data Unit (PADU) holding records on approximately 18 000 national parks and protected areas, with overviews of the species and habitats to be found. |
WTMU |
Wildlife Trading Monitoring Unit (WTMU) holds data on over 2 million trade transactions in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. A further 6000 000 data sets are also contained on the ivory trade. |
GERMON (Global Environment Radiation Monitoring Network), initiated jointly by WHO and UNEP, aims to collect, compile and disseminate information on environmental radiation levels. It has the ability to provide an international alert and rapid and accurate information in the case of unusual increases in environmental radiation. At present 58 countries participate in the program. GERMON is supporting more governments to contribute to the monitoring and also promoting improvement of the quality and comparability of data generated by the program.
HARMONISATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASUREMENT |
The Harmonisation of Environmental Measurement (HEM) program, established in 1989, aims to develop methods for harmonising data collection. Other UN agencies concerned with the comparability of data include the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UN Statistical Office (UNSO). Comparability and compatibility of data is of a major concern in assembling and reporting national and international information relating to the environment. National State of Environment Reports (produced by MARC) provide a baseline against which future changes in the environment can be judged. These reports document progress made in dealing with environmental programs and quite often highlight areas where further efforts can be made. |
UNITED NATIONS, SYSTEM-WIDE EARTHWATCH
Ecologically Sustainable Development, Australia
United Nations Sustainable development web site
Sustainable development, Links to UN programme sites
Environment, Links to UN programme sites
A window on United Nations work to observe and assess the global environment
http://www.unep.ch/earthw/indicat.htm
INDICATORS
http://www.unep.ch/earthw/indstat.htm
CURRENT STATUS OF INDICATOR WORK July 1998
http://www.unep.ch/earthw/g3os.htm
THE GLOBAL OBSERVING SYSTEMS
http://www.unep.org/
UNEP
http://www.unep.ch/earthw/Csd3rpt.htm
EARTHWATCH AND AGENDA 21:
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/index.html
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, UNITED NATIONS System-Wide Web Site on
National Implementation of the Rio Commitments
http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/austral/index.htm
Information on Australia
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/dsd.htm
United Nations Division for Sustainable Development
http://www.un.org/esa/earthsummit/ga97fac.htm
EARTH SUMMIT+5
gopher://gopher.un.org/00/esc/cn17/1996-97/indicators/WATER.IND
United Nations Department for
Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development (DPCSD)
INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLGIES Methodology Sheets- Indicators for Environmental Aspects of Sustainable Development
http://www.environment.gov.au/corporate/envgov.html
Environment in Government, Australia
http://sedac.ciesin.org/pidb/
Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI)
http://www.environment.gov.au/environment/epcg/soe.html
State of the environment Australia
http://www.environment.gov.au/environment/epcg/soe/env_indicators/indicators.html
Environmental Indicators for National State of the Environment Reporting, Australia
http://www.wsl.ch/wsidb/gtos/gtos.html
Global Terrestrial Observing System GTOS
http://www.unep.org/unep/state.htm
State of the Global Environment, UNEP
Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) , Linking the world's terrestrial monitoring systems to provide a global vision of the earth
http://www.wmo.ch/web/gcos/gcoshome.html
Welcome to GCOS
http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/ovgrid.html
Overview of UNEP/GRID
URL:
http://www.plas.bee.qut.edu.au/www_jsc/psb320/320envmon02.htm |
