Executive Summary
Exchanging ExperiencesThe projects analysed evolved through the creation of environmental management concepts exploiting effective technological solutions with social and sectoral factors. By supporting multi-disciplinary and trans-national co-operation, some projects have designed effective solutions to address trans-boundary environmental management (see relevant project titles under category 1 in the table below). The innovative and early exploitation of advanced IT and telecommunication technologies are common to almost all the projects, leading to the delivery of better quality environmental information. This has led to improved decision making with regard to air quality and traffic management (see 2 below), to drinking water (3), to water resources (4), to assessment of environmental impact (5), and to forecast air pollution (6). In the majority of cases, dissemination of environmental information to NGO's and the public has resulted in better awareness of the broader public to environmental issues (7).
| (1) TEMSIS, DANUBE - AEWS, JAMS, REMSSBOT (2) EMMA, EFFECT, SIMTRAP (3) WATERNET (4) E-MAIL, SNIRH, CROATIA - TNMN (5) REMSSBOT, E-MAIL,TEMSIS, ECOSIM, IOZIP (6) ECOSIM, EMMA, EFFECT, SIMTRAP (7) TEMSIS, HEIS-MUC, DANIS, EMMA , EFFECT, EUROAQ, SNIRH, IOZIP |
The obstacles encountered in implementing pilot demonstrations were of both an institutional and technical nature and were common to both those in the EU as well as CEE countries. The bureaucracy encountered in public administration was a major difficulty for most projects, consisting of slow decision-making, low levels of internal competence and poorly defined responsibilities. Low levels of co-operation within and between departments were seen. Technical difficulties encountered related to the availability of data, lack of data standardisation and factors such as data ownership, rights and reliable data delivery. Obsolete telecommunications infrastructures create problems in implementing telematics, especially in CEE countries. Financial provision is another area where difficulties are encountered. Inadequate education and training are major obstacles for implementing telematics systems within administrations.
Experience shows that most systems can be adapted to other sites if certain basic conditions such as infrastructure availability are met. Varying degrees of sophistication in local circumstances may lead to a complex or simpler approach in the methodology or application. The projects have frequently used sites of widely differing characteristics as demonstrators, and there are several examples of similar systems implemented at different levels of complexity. All suggest that a simple start can lead ultimately to a more sophisticated system as resources and requirements dictate.
Thus, by transferring systems and methodologies one can achieve more efficiently:
- a broader spectrum of users;
- the development of similar applications;
- solutions for common European problems;
- the creation of wider market opportunities, and;
- the increased relevance of results.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
