Environment Data Base Planned  
Gulf News - By Nadim Kawach, Abu Dhabi,23/03/2003.

Abu Dhabi is working on an ambitious project to create an Environment Data Base (EDB) that will support its protection plans and enable it to chalk out long-term environment strategies, officials said yesterday.

The Environment Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) is sponsoring the project, which was floated last year as an advanced mechanism for environment protection.

It was disclosed at a seminar held at Zayed University in a series of meetings organised by ERWDA to press ahead with the plan.

The proposal will be submitted for approval this month to Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and ERWDA deputy chairman, before it is presented to ERWDA`s board of directors.

"We hope that by the end of the second quarter, a formal team will be formed by a decree from His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and chairman of ERWDA , to start working on the development of the project and budget," said Abdullah Zamzam, ERWDA`s assistant secretary general for finance and administration.

"EDB has grown from a concept in the meeting rooms of ERWDA and the minds of a few to a reality where actual cooperation and joint projects are undertaken by various parties and government organisations," he told the participants in the meeting entitled Academia and the Environment: Building Bridges between Academia and; the Community.

Wide spectrum of issues

He said ERWDA decided to carry out the project in line with its powers as the competent authority within Abu Dhabi for protecting and managing the environment granted by Shekh Khalifa.

The project was prompted by the need for huge amounts of environment- related data covering a wide spectrun of issues.

"It is difficult for ERWDA , financially as well as logistically, to go ahead and collect all data that would be required and, moreover, it would be duplication of effort as organisations responsible for the management of specific issues already hold that data," Zamzam said.

"It is against this backdrop that ERWDA decided to initiate and champion the establishment of an Abu Dhabi-wide environmental database, which would be beneficial not just for ERWDA but all partners in this initiative."

He said EDB would be a management tool for the Abu Dhabi government as it will use geographical information systems, related database management systems and Internet technologies. It will be implemented against "international standards and best practices".

EDB's main functions will cover environment information, data management standards, data cataloguing and conversion, physical infrastructure, data sharing agreements, and awareness and training.

Zamzam said the project requires the organisations that collect and hold environment data to commit substantial, long-teen resources to cataloguing and converting existing data holdings.

"Substantial long-term resources will have to be committed to the project," he said. "These will be required at each of the participating organisations and at a central coordinating body."

He added: The project will never finish as it will be an ongoing project. Organisation managers need to understand that the project represents a culture shift and that they are required to contribute to this shift."