Application of Technical Measures
Basic Technologies
Most central government agencies have begun to establish administrative information systems and to develop communication links. In Hungary, a major information technology (IT) development programme has been initiated within public administration and the regional environmental inspectorates. In Estonia, over 430 LANs and some 7000 PCs are in use, with 85-90 percent of its state administrative workplaces served by PCs. 46 percent of these were given to be pentiums, and 60 percent have Internet connections. In Latvia, GIS and web technology implementation is ongoing, with more than 50 percent of environment ministry PCs connected to the Internet. In Romania, database, network, email and GIS technologies are commonly in use within state administration, both nationally and regionally.Local governments in the CEE region too have become better endowed with
IT. In Hungary and Slovenia, Internet access is commonplace, even
in small villages, and GIS-based systems have become the basis of information
related projects. In countries like Slovakia, these commonly focus
on supporting physical planning. A recent survey of the Slovak Republic
revealed only 24 percent of municipal governments had no access to computers
(mainly very small municipalities), while many towns are connected to data
exchange networks and can rely on good quality equipment. Because of poor
cooperation, however, many self-governing bodies tend to develop information
systems independently of each other, based on territorial needs and financial
means (Slovenia, Slovakia). In Slovakia, Internet connections are being
improved through the assistance of support centres. In countries like Romania,
IT use is less extensive at the local level.
Data Collection and Validation
Most EU accession countries have established state environmental information systems and coordinating bodies for their main data collection and validation activities. In Estonia, for example, the Environmental Information Centre’s Environmental Pollution Inventory Data system encompasses 40 databases that cover wastewater, air pollution, and solid waste management. The system relies on data collected by the environment ministry’s regional representatives. In Hungary, an integrated GIS based system which serves as the basis for all national environmental databases has been established, and is being extended to the regional level through pilot projects. In Latvia, a Unified Environmental Information System has been established by the environment ministry to collect monitoring data as well as statistics and cadastres, while Lithuania’s national environmental databases, managed by the Joint Research Centre, collects qualitative and quantitative state of the environment data through regional representatives of the environment ministry. In Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia too, environmental information system "concepts" have been passed and are supported by regional state bodies.In most CEE countries, municipal self-governments are excluded from these systems in terms of providing data collection support. There are, however, some notable exceptions, for example, in Slovakia where local government support is relied upon in certain affected areas, for example, the Gabcikovo dam, and Slovenia, where the state’s "Onix" information system is being implemented within several of its cities. In Latvia and Lithuania, municipal governments of the capital cities cooperate in air quality monitoring and in the former, will shortly be part of the Governmental Data Communication Network. Still, many municipalities have yet to establish their own comprehensive environmental information systems, in spite of driving forces like an Environmental Monitoring Law which in Lithuania foresees an important role for municipal monitoring. In Slovenia, other obstacles were cited: "since municipalities do not own natural resources and neither have inspection authority, expenditures for local monitoring are hardly justifiable." In some countries, Poland for instance, environmental impact assessment databases have begun to be developed locally, and some monitoring systems are already in place, for example, the city of Opole cooperatively operates the so-called BASKI industrial monitoring system. And in Slovenia, more progressive municipalities have implemented advanced information systems which incorporate environmental components, such as air and water quality monitoring.
Among the typical data formats, statistical environmental information is commonplace, and this tends to be maintained in databases, and GIS. Aerial photographs, satellite images, spatial maps, cadastres etc. are also found typically in all countries, generally at the national level but increasingly at the local level. In Romania, more sophisticated technologies such as GIS are limited to regions with special status, for instance, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve.
Access to the above information sources, particularly those of the state, varies considerably. In Estonia and Romania, free access is offered to local authorities and enquiries are dealt with usually in the space of a month. In other countries (Poland for example, difficulties tend to be experienced, while in others (Bulgaria, for example), formal written requests must be submitted. In some countries including Slovenia, requests for information may even be refused without a full justification of interest, or may be made available only at a price. Limited data is also made available via the Internet, in Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary and most other CEE countries.
Access to local municipal data tends to vary on a case-by-case basis,
however, it is bound to be consistent with legal requirements (access to
information laws etc.). In some countries, (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia,
and Slovakia, for example), municipal air and water quality monitoring
data is being made available on the Internet. More information on
dissemination of information is given below.
Management of the Natural Environment
All CEE countries have set up air and water monitoring systems. Some are more extensive than others.Bulgaria, Latvia and most other countries operate a variety of manual and automatic stations within extensive networks for the monitoring of air emissions and ambient air quality. Specialised institutes collect this information, which in countries like the Czech Republic is stored in GIS and tabularised form. Romania notes its air quality monitoring systems also serve a forecast function. Regular data collection is typical.
In terms of water management systems, all countries tend to realise surface water, rainfall measurement, and wastewater monitoring, besides collecting meteorological data (often by satellite). In some countries, this data is used to detect likely flood instances (Bulgaria). Groundwater tends to be monitored in all countries, though, in some, Hungary for example, tends to be localised to contaminated sites like those of former military sites, while in Romania, close to drinking water sources. In some sensitive areas, specialised monitoring systems tend to have been established, for instance, within the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve in Romania. Often specialised institutes are dedicated to monitoring activities, for example, the "Reservoirs and Cascades" administration in Bulgaria or Hydrometeorological Institutes. In other cases, e.g. Latvia, cooperative programmes with foreign-based environment institutes have been launched in order to improve existing monitoring systems. Data tends to be stored in specialised databases, in Latvia for instance in Oracle.
Coastal water monitoring systems have been established in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, and Latvia (for a state reserve area) and in Lithuania were indicated to include digital maps based on satellite images.
In terms of contaminated sites monitoring, Hungary maintains a list (yet to be made available electronically) of hazardous sites, and manages a national programme for their management and clean-up. This programme is managed by the environment ministry. In Slovenia, soil monitoring tends to be a municipal activity, while in Romania, almost 1000 sampling sites are used to track soil contamination. Remediation of the latter is still in the discussion phase. In Bulgaria, heavy metal soil pollution is also selectively monitored, while in Latvia, the Latvian Environmental Data Center is in the process of developing a methodology for contaminated site examination and analysis.
Much of the above data is sent on to regional representatives of environment
ministries who collect and analyse it (in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania,
Poland). The section above has illustrated those countries where
municipal monitoring of air and water also takes place (Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Driving the above monitoring activities
are a variety of standards and international conventions.
In many countries, these systems serve only to collect environmental
data. In some case, they also provide decision support. In
Bulgaria for example, the water supply and sewage system offers this function
besides data collection. In the Czech Republic conversely, systems
were noted to be largely focused on monitoring and less on decision support.
Management of Natural Resources
In terms of monitoring wastes, practice is varied. Some countries report little activity (Bulgaria, Romania) while others indicate dedicated programmes. Hungary, for example, with PHARE Programme support maintains an electronic national inventory of pollution sources as part of the Waste 121 project. In Slovenia, (as seems to be typical of other countries), public service companies tend to maintain waste data, although this is not usually compiled electronically. Illegal dump site data in Slovenia has been compiled electronically within certain municipalities, as is hazardous waste data. Other countries also show development of IT based systems for hazardous waste management. In Latvia, a telematics-based accounting and management system has been developed in the city of Gardene. Lithuania too demonstrates one of the first CEE examples of a computerised waste management system. Svara, the city of Kaunas’ waste management company operates this system which provides data storage facilities for fuel records, schedule preparation for waste disposal (non-container, container and plastic container-based collection), dump data registry and analysis, records of contracts with inhabitants and organisations, computer operators’ and programmers’ work records and analysis and so on.National electrical companies in Bulgaria and Slovenia are known to
be monitoring consumption and demand, and operate modelling systems for
analysing demand and optimising their work. Some countries, such
as the Czech Republic have recently launched energy modelling activities
as part of air quality improvement programmes. GIS is the standard
data format in this case. Elsewhere, in Romania for example, the Romanian
Energy Conservation Agency was established to maintain a database on energy
demand trends and patterns, A demand forecasting model is also part
of this system.
Risk and Emergency Management
"Civil Defence" systems tend to operate in most CEE countries, through a variety of means. In Bulgaria, at national, regional and (in Hungary and Slovakia at) local levels. Usually the national telecommunication system is relied upon as well as sirens, radio, television, and police patrols/fire-fighters to alert citizens to emergency threats. Some industries, in Slovakia and Poland for example, operate their own warning systems.In Hungary and Latvia, radioactivity monitoring systems exist with several
regional measuring stations, while for the Danube River, (particularly
Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), an emergency warning system
is in the process of being established, compatible with other international
activities in place along the Rhine river. Latvia relies on the Internet
to disseminate emergency information, and has also demonstrated the use
of IT for modelling the influence of risk on human health. This was
in fact undertaken at the municipality level.
Information Dissemination to the Public
CEE countries are now in the process of drafting (Bulgaria) or have adopted legislation (Latvia, Lithuania) that assures public access to information, and in these cases, this begins to harmonise the EU Directive on Access to Information. In some countries, these laws have been taken a step further and through specific acts (Czech Republic, Slovakia) and regulations (under preparation in Bulgaria) guaranteeing public right to access environmental information. Some countries choose to guarantee the right to access information through constitutional law (Estonia, Poland) or through environmental framework laws (Hungary, Romania, Slovenia). Nine of the ten EU accession countries have also signed the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters and expect to ratify either this year or next. Bulgaria has yet to set a date. This serves as an additional driving force in this area.In many cases, however, while the public generally enjoy the right to access (environmental) information, procuring it can be problematic. Formal (written) request mechanisms are often institutionalised (in Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia), and slow response times or rejections are characteristic (Romania, Slovenia). In some cases (Slovakia, Slovenia), fees are charged for information. Some countries have established dedicated question and answer services to improve informational transparency (Hungary, for example within the environment ministry, and Czech Republic, through eight public information service centres).
Many state bodies with environmental responsibility as well as local self-governments rely on the Internet to disseminate (summary) environmental information. The environment ministries of all accession countries (with the exception of Romania and Slovakia), and in some cases regional representatives (Estonia, Poland) provide access to environmental data (including legislation and statutes) via the Internet. In other countries, central institutes are responsible for providing data access, for example, the Estonian Environmental Information Center, Latvian Environmental Data Centre, Romanian EIONET (European Environment Agency) national focal point, and Slovak Environment Agency. In some countries, media-specific institutes (in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovenia) also make environmental data available.
Some countries’ municipal governments are relying on Telecottage networks to collect and disseminate environmental information (in Estonia and Hungary). Others are already publishing data themselves (in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Some of those institutes commonly using the Internet, also rely on floppy diskette and CD-ROM to disseminate information (in Czech Republic, the Institute for Municipal Informatics of Prague, for example)
All CEE countries rely also on hardcopy dissemination, and in some countries
(Bulgaria, Poland) this experiences limited circulation. Most countries,
rely also on the mass-media to disseminate environmental information.
In Hungary, Estonia, Latvia and elsewhere, the national radio and television
networks achieve this through dedicated programmes, as well as through
daily newspapers and journals.
Other Applications
Environmental impact assessment legislation is beginning to be adopted in CEE countries consistent with EU law, and corresponding to this, its application is beginning to appear at the local government level. EIA calls for the public announcement of the results of studies into potentially damaging or harmful impacts on the environment of forthcoming investments, and subsequent public discussion prior to approval/rejection.Some countries have begun implementing IT based systems supporting this
process. In Bulgaria for instance, the environment ministry, and
in the Czech Republic, regional branches and District Offices have begun
to develop database storage of EIA announcements for internal purposes.
These have yet to be made available to the public, however. In the
Czech Republic, two strategic environmental assessments were made with
related documents placed on the Internet in order to encourage public involvement.
Poland, however, seems to be the only country in the CEE region to have
embraced the use of electronic media sources in the EIA process.
Standardisation and Exchange of Data
In Hungary, the National Inspectorate of Environmental Protection has set the standard data format, since it generally manages all major environmental databases. This relies on GIS. Access to the information, while free to local governments through the Inspectorate’s Regional Offices, tends still to be paper-based. Latvia’s State Information System serving both central and some local self-governing bodies relies on its own technical parameters and data exchange formats, as called for by a Regulation on Economical Classification and many other related laws. This foresees a Governmental Data Communication Network, which currently under construction, will offer an Intranet and limited Internet service. As in Hungary, however, much data exchange still tends to be in hardcopy or through CD-ROM, rather than digitally transmittable form. The growth in use of email, FTP and Internet, is expected to change this situation. In other countries, Poland for example, in spite of many data collection related activities, there is no uniform IT based network or data exchange format. Slovenia on the other hand, is just in the early stages of developing its own environmental data exchange project with the "Onix" project (managed by the environment ministry). This will provide basic data exchange facilities to the government’s main institutions, and local self-governing bodies.Specific Technologies
Besides the above overviewed use of information technology, most CEE countries rely on other specific data collection, storage and dissemination technologies.Advanced data-acquisition technologies such as automated environmental monitoring systems are appearing from Bulgaria to Latvia, though less so at the local government level. As found in Romania, activities of this nature tend to be coordinated by those bodies with greater role and responsibility for the environment, for example, regional representatives of the environment ministries.
Modelling is performed in a number of countries (notably the Czech Republic
and Latvia) as a decision support tool for air and water pollution both
at the national and local level. The municipal governments of Prague,
and Usti nad Labem in the Czech Republic, for example, rely on their own
specialised air quality modelling applications.
Satellite and aerial photography is being widely introduced along with
GIS technology, which is increasingly being used by environment ministries
(in the Czech Republic and Latvia), by national and regional bodies responsible
for environmental data collection (Czech Republic, Hungary, and Latvia),
and local government (in Czech Republic, Latvia, and Romania). In Hungary,
"intelligent town halls" relying on GIS and Internet have begun to be developed,
while in Romania and Slovakia, electronic displays of air quality information
have been established within some cities. In some countries, informational
support bodies to municipal governments have been established, like the
Institute of Municipal Informatics of the City of Prague which relies on
GIS, CD-ROM, Internet and database technology within its environmental
information system, "IOZIP." It was noted, however, especially in
Latvia, that GIS is still relied on as an information system, rather than
as a decisionmaking support system. Nevertheless, GIS growth does
appear to be fastest in environmental spheres.
In all CEE countries, the Internet is rapidly becoming the standard tool for communication and public dissemination, for both national and local government bodies with environmental responsibility. Eight of the ten Accession Countries’ environment ministries maintain their own webpages. The reason for this can be easily understood when considering the growth in Internet use in CEE countries. In Estonia, for example, a recent survey revealed that 18 percent of Estonian’s had used the Internet to access information. Initiatives are underway in Estonia, Slovakia, and elsewhere to help improve Internet use and to build the European Information Society with the Internet, a core component.
Meta-data catalogues are proving increasingly common means for accessing
environmental information. In the Czech Republic, this is accessible
via the environment ministry’s website, while a more advanced system (known
as MEDIS) is being developed. In Latvia, a meta-information system,
consistent with the European Environment Agency’s Catalogue of Data Sources
is being developed. The first web-based version of this system was
expected to be launched at the end of 1998. Slovenia’s meta-data
catalogue is already accessible via Internet and hardcopy. Elsewhere, in
countries like Romania, such catalogues have yet to be developed.
Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
