Action Team on the Environmental Monitoring Strategy

Brief mission statement:

(a) Address the needs and requirements for use and protection of the environment through improved monitoring methods approved by different countries and organizations;
(b) Develop a comprehensive worldwide environmental monitoring strategy for long-term global observations by building on existing space and ground capabilities.

Findings:

(a) In order to implement a comprehensive environmental monitoring strategy, the available and produced data should be shared between countries and organizations for better efficiency and economy;
(b) The developed countries can support setting up the strategy technically, while developing countries can provide field and ground data and information;
(c) The partnership between relevant national, regional and international institutions should be enhanced and the needed capacity should be built;
(d) Space-based observations have proven to be an effective and strong tool for environmental monitoring. The use of satellite data for environmental reporting has increased, but the full potential remains untapped. Data management and the setting up of databases with acquired monitoring data are the next step towards establishing an environmental monitoring system. The availability of data for planners, decision makers, specialists and scientists involved in the issues related to environmental monitoring is also essential.

Recommendations for further action:

(a) The Action Team is proposing a work plan to launch a worldwide strategy for environmental monitoring, ensuring the sustainable use of ecosystems and promoting regional cooperation on critical environmental issues. The work plan should concentrate resources and efforts on achieving greater technical and scientific cooperation, enhancing knowledge and exchange of experience among countries and organizations, developing policies leading to sustainable environmental development and building upon the current development and national environmental action plans and rural development strategies;
(b) The work plan consists of the following four technical components: (i) networking and knowledge-sharing; (ii) capacity-building of national and regional organizations; (iii) regional systems for collection and distribution of information; and (iv) space technology applications for environmental monitoring. Each of these components will consist of a set of outputs, which will be delivered through specific activities;
(c) The most effective solution for the continuation of reliable, integrated comprehensive environmental monitoring is to develop an institutional mechanism, consisting of interdisciplinary activities with scientific, technical, economic, political and legal aspects and that is constantly active on a global scale in the interests of environmental protection and for the benefit of all countries. This should gradually evolve towards the creation of a united environmental monitoring system, with the following key features: (i) globally acceptable, integrated and comprehensive; (ii) supported by well-structured data collection systems at the national, regional and global levels and coordinated with socio-economic information systems; (iii) containing effective tools for data analysis and processing to produce information and generate knowledge accessible to officials and the general public; (iv) well known to policy and decision makers for its presentation of data and information in an easily understandable format;
(d) The first step in creating such a system could be a resolution of the General Assembly that defines the status of the monitoring system. At the early stages of establishing the monitoring system, a strategy for integrated, comprehensive environmental monitoring could be implemented through pilot projects, which would allow local communities to take practical steps and to test and practise the main technological approaches and basic ideas.

Implementation already initiated:

(a) A questionnaire on the environmental monitoring and observation capabilities and possibilities of the member countries and organizations was prepared and distributed among members of the Action Team;
(b) The Action Team made efforts to expand and develop its activities and coverage of work by accepting new members, such as the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society;
(c) The Action Team reviewed existing global monitoring organizations and strategies, including the Integrated Global Observing Strategy, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, the World Meteorological Organization, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative and others, in order to study overlaps, gaps and divergences;
(d) Keeping in mind recommendation (c) above, the Action Team has initiated two pilot projects: one for remote sensing applications for monitoring of desertification and the other for the establishment of an institute on the use of integrated comprehensive data in environmental monitoring, with a series of workshops and training activities as well as regional centres for environmental monitoring.

Benefits to be derived from implementation:

(a) Ensuring the sustainable use of ecosystems through (i) the implementation of an operational system for the monitoring of the dynamics of the desertification phenomenon in arid and semi-arid areas on selected sites; (ii) adaptation and assessment of relevant space techniques for the monitoring of degraded areas at test sites; (iii) provision of guidelines for the effective implementation of desertification monitoring at the selected test sites in the light of their particular conditions; (iv) support to the capacity-building of national institutions in the field of monitoring and evaluation of desertification; (v) enhancement of the partnership between the relevant subregional and national organizations and institutions;
(b) Promoting national, regional and global cooperation on critical environmental issues. The monitoring technology presented in the report of the Action Team (A/AC.105/C.1/L.275) provides a comprehensive and economically effective structure for the organization of work, bringing together all modern infrastructure for receiving, processing and distributing data and information, including satellite, aerial and ground equipment for data collection, Global Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System applications, communication support, software for data processing and integration into geographical information systems and other information systems.

Progress made by the Action Team:

(a) The Action Team held four meetings in Vienna during the sessions of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee;
(b) The Action Team continues the compilation of comprehensive information on an environmental monitoring strategy provided by its members and is exploring possibilities and developing plans for implementation.