2.2. GOOD PRACTICES IN ENVIRONMENT TELEMATICS

Table 1 below briefly summarises the twelve applications addressed by this guide. Four of the case-studies (including TELEFLEUR, HEIS-MUC, DEDICS, COSIMA) were co-funded by the EC's Telematics Applications Programme (TAP), during 1994-8. Some have been funded by other international programmes and donors (such as Black Sea Web, JAMS, Danube AEWS, and the Air Quality Management System in Vilnius, Lithuania). Projects like IOZIP, SNIRH, SINDRA and the Construction and Demolition Recyclables Exchange are almost fully funded locally.

Table 1: Projects and their key attributes

APPLICATION AREAS	CASE STUDIES	KEY ATTRIBUTES
Waste Management and Contaminated Sites	Construction & Demolition Recyclables Exchange	Re-usable building and construction waste inventory serving the whole of Austria and neighbouring countries.
	SINDRA - Telematics for Waste Management in the Rhone-Alpes Region	Waste processing and management tool applied at regional level.
	COSIMA - Contaminated Sites Management Support System	GIS-based contaminated sites assessment and decision support tool applied at local government level in Ireland, Germany, Italy and Amsterdam.
Environmental Monitoring	Urban Air Quality Management System in Vilnius, Lithuania	Urban air quality modelling and monitoring system.
	JAMS - Joint Air Monitoring System in the Black Triangle Region	Transboundary air quality monitoring and emergency warning system.
	SNIRH - Portuguese Water Resources Information System	Water quality and resource management system.
Emergency Management	TELEFLEUR - Telematics Assisted Handling of Flood Emergencies in Urban Areas	Integrated management system supporting emergency services in Athens, Greece dedicated to the management of flash-floods.
	Danube AEWS - Danube Accident Emergency Warning System	Pollution incident alert system operating in 11 countries, through which the Danube river runs, facilitating emergency preparedness and response.
	DEDICS - Forest fire management support system	Integrated management system supporting emergency services dedicated to the management of forest fires in Crete, the French Riviera and Andalucia.
Public Access to Information	HEIS-MUC - Health and Environmental Information System Munich, Germany	Integrated environmental data management system providing improved decision-maker and public access to environmental data.
	IOZIP - Environmental Information System of Prague, Czech Republic	Integrated environmental data management system providing improved decision-maker and public access to environmental data corresponding to environmental regulations.
	Black Sea Web - Black Sea Environmental Management Support System	Regional environmental data management system for marine-related issues serving several Black Sea countries relying on Internet.

In order to have qualified for EC co-financing, applications such as HEIS-MUC, COSIMA, and TELEFLEUR will have been shown to be central to the needs of public authorities and research centres managing and monitoring environmental issues. Having been successful in procuring funding, up to 50 percent of the project costs will have been contributed locally, clearly showing the practical value attached to such tools by the authorities implementing them. Today, financing of these applications and their management continues independent of EC support. Some applications are being further developed, for instance, DEDICS and HEIS-MUC.

For other organisations implementing projects financed by foreign programmes, the development of telematics tools will have been based upon clearly identified environmental priorities, for instance, in better coordinating management of the heavily polluted Black Triangle region in Central Europe, or the effective monitoring of the Danube waterway. Other activities were initiated in order to realise commitments toward sustainable development policy - in the field of waste, for instance, within the Recyclables Exchange application. In some cases, applications have been fully-financed by city authorities, for instance the Prague Environmental Information System, because of the need to support decision-makers with valuable information concerning environmental pressures and threats. These examples also show the value attached to telematics tools therefore by senior decision-makers in supporting environmental policy goals and targets.

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Updated: CET

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REC * PROGRAMS * ISTs * CAPE * GOOD PRACTICES IN ENVIRONMENT TELEMATICS IMPLEMENTATION

Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe