Executive Summary
ContextEfficient monitoring and management of the environment are essential activities contributing to sustainable development. The exploratory Environment action of the European Union's Telematics Applications Programme (1994-1998) demonstrated the usefulness of telematics research and applications for protecting and improving the environment. It promoted the development of research and technological tools which enables the sharing of information among citizens, industries and city administrators so that informed decisions for improving the environment can be made. In the most efficient form of a sustainable Information Society, this new range of telematics research and results should not limit the benefits to a few users but attract the interest of as wide an audience as possible. Therefore, a dedicated dissemination activity was established to make the results obtained in the Environment Telematics Application Programme more widely known. This activity, known by the acronym "ENWAP" gathered participants and projects from EU and CEE countries into in a User Forum to discuss the needs and results obtained by environment telematics systems applied to manage air pollution and water resources and identifying Good Practice.
Target Audience
The resulting report is directed to EU and CEE stakeholders involved in the monitoring and management of the water and air
environment, whether or not they are currently using telematic systems, i.e. from politicians responsible for implementing environmental
policy to those collecting the basic data in the field. In particular, the document is directed at central and local government departments
in their role as environmental decision-makers and managers. It is also likely to be of interest to public watchdogs, community
organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGO's) interested in tools for supplying environmental information .
Objectives
The Good Practice report aims to identify particularly innovative and efficient telematic systems developed by pilot research and
technological development (RTD) demonstration projects in the EU and CEE countries, which could be fully or partially applied in
similar sites elsewhere, in order to maximise the benefits of research and results for other users. The report provides a detailed
description of sixteen research projects, selected as significant examples of environment telematics applications in the EU and CEE
countries. The conditions under which projects have been successfully established are discussed, and it is stressed that good practice
does not identify a single system, but shows how a variety of alternative solutions can be successful for common European problems.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
