Damascus' regional Information Environmental System workshop
Syria, Environment, 12/17/2001

A training course was recently held in Damascus on the Regional Information Environmental System (RISE). It is organized by the ministries of environment in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan and the German International Co-operation Agency ( GTZ). Trainees from the three Arab ministries took part in the three-day course.

In a statement to Arabic News, the GTZ representative Dr. Andreas Lippke said the project aims at gathering information to prepare for a measurements campaign in air and water. He added that it is a joint project between the German Environment Agency and the ministries of the environment in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

He continued that the project has two steps. The first step is to overview of available information and the second is to look at measurement equipment and potential needs for adjustment.

He elaborated that with this first step " we join in into European international activities, because our visit to Syria is part of the project's strategy to help the three Arab states to work on a common basis." He said that this is the second in the chain of events after the first one which was held in Beirut in July 2001.

He said that the task of defining a general format on environmental metainformation has been picked up by several organizations, but a widely accepted general standard has never been achieved, although the need for a standard is obvious to most of the people working with environmental information.

He said that the main obstacles have been the difficult discussions on a common denominator of the systems already in place and the revolutionary change in global communication.

The possibilities of global collaboration and data exchange now emerges as the central driving force towards a general framework, which is based on the widely accepted Dublin Core elements on meta-information and the general environmental Locator Service GELOS factor record definition.

Dr. Lippke explained that Meta-information should be collected for Fiscal and moral aspects and also for practical aspects: " We should make best use of the resources and should not do what has been done already. We should use the best available information for our work and help other to do so, working with public money for the benefit of the public," he commented.

He elaborated that Meta- information helps complying with legal obligations: Freedom of access to environmental information act, to Arhus convention and to Kyoto protocol..

He said that today approximately, 500 terms on Environmental Thesauri are available in 19 languages: Basque, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, Finish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish, noting that International Thesaurus in all UNEP languages, not available in Arabic.

In the course's second part, members of the steering committee at RISE in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan who represent the directors of environmental establishments in each of Damascus, Beirut and Amman discussed with the German side, representing the ministry of the environment in Germany as the project's implementing sides, discussed the importance of this project for the three countries. The participants indicated its importance as a very important nucleus for an Arab Information System. This proposal will be submitted to the executive bureau of the Arab Environment ministers council which will be held in May, 2002 in Damascus The budget of this project in the three said countries was discussed and channels of distributing it were defined, as the German side will provide a detailed budget to this effect.

A future work plan was laid with the possibility of proposing this project to international donating sides to ensure financing the stages of this project. Among these sides is the UN program for Environment.

The German side has financed the first phase of this project with 400,000 DM. The first phase of this project which started in June 2001 will be completed in March 2003 with a comprehensive report highlighting the current status of water and air pollution in each of Damascus, Amman and Beirut and necessary aids to be given by sides concerned to eliminate pollution.

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