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Realising the importance of
Environmental Information, the Government of India, in December, 1982,
established an Environmental
Information System (ENVIS) as a
plan programme. The focus of ENVIS since inception has been on providing
environmental information to decision makers, policy planners, scientists and
engineers, research workers, etc. all over the country.
Since environment is a broad-ranging,
multi-disciplinary subject, a comprehensive information system on environment
would necessarlly involve effective participation of concerned institutions/
organisations in the country that are actively engaged in work relating to
different subject areas of environment. ENVIS has, therefore, developed itself
with a network of such participating institutions/organisations for the
programme to be meaningful. A large number of nodes, known as ENVIS Centres,
have been established in the network to cover the broad subject areas of
environment with a Focal Point in the Ministry of Environment & Forests.
Both the Focal Point as well as the
ENVIS Centres have been assigned various
responsibilities to achieve the
Long-term
& Short-term
objectives. For this purpose,
various services has been introduced by the Focal Point.
ENVIS due to its comprehensive
network has been designed as the National Focal Point (NFP) for INFOTERRA, a
global environmental information network of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). In order to strengthen the information activities of the NFP,
ENVIS was designated as the Regional Service Centre (RSC) of INFOTERRA of UNEP
in 1985 for the South Asia Sub-Region countries.
A programme on Environment
Management Capacity Building of the World Bank (ENVIS-EMCB):
ENVIS (Environmental Information
System) has started implementing the World Bank assisted Environment Management
Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project (EMCBTAP) since January, 2002
which aims at structuring the ENVIS scheme by extending its reach through
involvement of Institutions/Organizations in State Governments, academia
sector, corporate sector, NGO sector, etc. The project also aims at broadening
the ambit of ENVIS to include varying subject areas, themes, local conditions,
issues, information/data needs of the country pertaining to environment and
planned to be achieved through enlargement of participatory
Organizations/Institutions, called EMCB-Nodes in various sectors and through
introduction of modern means of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs).
This programme is a continuation of
the Sustainable Development Networking Programme : India (SDNP-India)
programme, funded jointly by the UNDP and IDRC, Canada.
ENVIS is a decentralised
system with a network of distributed subject oriented Centres ensuring
integration of national efforts in environmental information collection,
collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination to all concerned. Presently the
ENVIS network consists of Focal Point at the Ministry of Environment and Forest
and ENVIS Centres setup in different organisations/establishments in the
country in selected areas of environment. These Centres have been set up in the
areas of pollution control, toxic chemicals, central and offshore ecology,
environmentally sound and apropriate technology, bio-degradation of wastes and
environment management, etc.
ENVIS focal point ensures
integration of national efforts in environmental information collection,
collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination to all concerned.
To strengthen ENVIS in disseminating
information pertaining to environment and sustainable development, ENVIS India
is in the process of establishing Eighty Five ENVIS Nodes by involving
Organizations, institutions, Universities and Government departments working in
diverse areas of environment.
ENVIS India has already established
Eighty One partner nodes, which include Thirty government departments, Thirty
Six Institutions and Fifteen NGOs. These nodes are supposed to create websites
on specific environment related subject areas.
The responsibility of the ENVIS
Centres and Nodes are :
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Establishment of linkages with all information
sources, and creation of data bank on selected parameters in the subject area
assigned.
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Identification of information gaps.
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Publish newsletters and Bulletins.
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Develop library facility and provide support to the
focal point on the subject area.
Most importantly serve as interface
for the users on the assigned subject.
Both the Focal Point as well as the
ENVIS Centres have been assigned various responsibilities. The broad
responsibilities of the Focal Point and ENVIS Centres are as under :
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Focal Point :
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overall coordination of ENVIS network;
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identification of ENVIS Centres in
specialised areas, their location in selected institutes/organisations and
their linkage with the Focal Point;
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farming guidlines and uniform
desiging procedures for ENVIS Centres;
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collection, storage, retrieval and
dissemination of information on areas in which ENVIS Centres have not been
established and in some general areas of environment like environmental
research, environmental policy and management, environmental legislation,
environmental impact assessment, etc.;
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responding to user queries directly
or through the ENVIS Centres;
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Establishment of Data Bank containing
data on some selected parameters, and computerisation in important application
areas of environment;
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identification of data gaps and
knowledge gaps in specified subject areas and action to fill these gaps;
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liasion with relevant International
Information Systems and other national information systems;
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publication of a quarterly
abstracting journal Paryavaran Abstracts;
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bringing out various other
publications on current awareness services;
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organising training and seminars;
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monitoring and rewiewing of ENVIS;
and
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assisting the Scientific Advisory
Committee of ENVIS with inputs and rendering other secretarial help.
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Responsibilities of ENVIS Centres :
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building up a good collection of
books, reports and journals in the particular subject area of environment;
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establishment of linkages with all
information sources in the particular subject area of environment;
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responding to user queries;
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establishment of a data bank on some
selected parameters relating to the subject area;
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coordination with the Focal Point for
supplying relevant, adequate and timely information to the users;
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helping the Focal Point in gradually
up an inventory of information material available at the Centre; identification
of information gaps in the specified subject areas and action to fill these
gaps;
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bringing out newsletters/publications
in their subject area for wide dissemination.
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Long-term objectives :
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to build up a repository and
dissemination centre in Environmental Science and Engineering;
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to gear up the modern technologies of
acquistion, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information of
environmental nature; and
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to support and promote research,
development and innovation in environmental information technology.
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Short-term objectives :
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to provide national environmental
information service relevant to present needs and capable of develoment to meet
the future needs of the users, originators, processors and disseminators of
information;
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to build up storage, retrieval and
dissemination capabilities with the ultimate objectives of disseminating
information speedily to the users;
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to promote, national and
international cooperation and liasion for exchange of environment related
information;
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to promote, support and assist
education and personnel training programmes designed to enhance environmental
information processing and utilisation capabilities;
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to promote exchange of information
amongst developing countries.
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