April 2001
In early 2001, the CEROI Programme has been active in
compiling urban data for the
Indicators Database, developing a
European template and adding reports
to http://ceroi.net.
Ugland Publikit continues to improve Publikit, releasing 1.4 in March.
Read
more details in this newsletter!
CEROI's Urban
Environment Information Gateway
SOE Geneva
http://www.geneva-city.ch/ceroi
Launched on 23 April in a press conference, the State of Environment (SOE) report for Geneva is the result of a co-operation between GRID-Geneva, the Canton of Geneva and the City of Geneva, Switzerland.
Accessible in french and english, this is the first bilingual CEROI report. Unique features also include a glossary and thematic bibliography.
CEROI-Related Activities
http://ceroi.net
This section has been added to inform about other projects making use of the CEROI concept.
An important part of the CEROI concept is to facilitate environmental reporting through the use of reporting templates and the tailor-made web-publishing software, Publikit. The concept has proved also to be useful for other forms of reporting than on the urban environment. More on these projects under 'CEROI-Related Activities'.
Indicators
http://ceroi.net/ind
The Indicators Database is ready and on-line! Prague, Cape Town and Durban have already contributed urban data to the core set of 29 indicators.
Cities will continue to add their information as the CEROI Secretariat develops a solution for comparing data among cities and over time.
Data may be entered directly at http://ceroi.net/ind/input.asp, or using Publikit 1.2 or 1.4.
An expanded set of 60 city-specific indicators supplements the core set. These are for helping cities to publish statistics that are of particular relevance to their environments. Each indicator is explained in the encyclopedia, open to all.
Feedback on the core and expanded sets of indicators will be highly appreciated. Responses to these questions will be especially relevant: Are the indicators relevant to your work? Do you find the encyclopedia useful? Could anything be improved?
International
Co-operation
European Environment Agency (EEA)
http://ew.eea.eu.int/
CEROI has been developing a reporting template focusing on 'European Common Indicators' for the European Environment Agency (EEA). Approximately 80 cities have commited themselves to reporting on 10 indicators developed by a number of European cities, organisations and authorities.
Upon final definition of the indicators in May 2001, the following European cities will begin producing reports:
Amaroussion, Greece
Barcelona,
Spain
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Bristol, United Kingdom
Ferrara,
Italy
Lisbon, Portugal
Moderna, Italy
Oslo,
Norway
The Hague, The Netherlands
Torino Province, Italy
Once completed, the new template will be made available to other cities in EEA member countries.
Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly
Independent States
http://grida.no/enrin
The ENRIN - Environment and Natural Resources Information Network - Programme for Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (CEE & NIS) and CEROI have begun facilitating 4 Central Asian cities in creating SOE reports: Almaty (Kazakstan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), and Dushanbe (Tajikistan). Reports will be published by the end of 2001.
For further information about the ENRIN Programme and CEROI, please contact Ieva Rucevska at rucevska@grida.no.
CEROI-Related
Activities
CEROI on-line has added CEROI-Related Activities to its homepage. The CEROI concept of harmonised on-line reporting is being currently being applied to convention-reporting needs, and regional-level environmental reporting.
Reporting from World Heritage Sites
http://www.unesco.org/whc/nwhc/pages/doc/main.htm
The Nordic World Heritage Office and UNEP/GRID-Arendal are developing templates to facilitate periodic reporting in relation to the World Heritage Convention.
The periodic reports will assess the application of the Convention by State Parties and the state of conservation of World Heritage properties on their territories.
A Regional State of the World Heritage Report will be presented to the World Heritage Committee by one of six regions every year. Europe and North America, composed of 48 State Parties and comprising of 248 properties, are scheduled to be examined in 2004-5.
Regional reporting in Norway
http://62.92.38.7
The CEROI concept of harmonised on-line reporting is currently being implemented by 19 counties in Norway. A template based on the Norwegian State of the Environment report has been integrated into the Publikit software.
The report for Telemark county was the first to be published. All county reports will be made available in Norwegian only.
County reporting is part of a project for integrated national-regional reporting facilitated by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT).
Publikit®
http://publikit.net
Publikit 1.4
This updated version includes improved database handling, supports Active Server Pages (.asp files) and features a 'File' folder for downloaded material (.doc files).
General improvements include page links and references that are automatically repaired when a page is moved from one location to another within a Publikit Project.
A brochure about various solutions for customising templates is available at http://publikit.net/files/downloads/TemplateBrochure.pdf. Click here to see Publikit as used in the CEROI programme:http://publikit.net/product/description.htm.
Conferences, Meetings and Workshops
2001 ESRI Business
Partner Conference, 18-20 March 2001
Palm Springs, USA
Approximately 800 ESRI Business Partners from around the
world assembled to demonstrate their Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
applications. During the GIS Solution EXPO, Ugland Publikit demonstrated
Publikit's ability to include interactive maps in reports using ESRI Arc Internet Map
Server (Arc IMS) technology and shapefiles.
Electronic Tools Task Force of the Aarhus
Convention, 8-9 March 2001
Arendal, Norway
At the first meeting of the
Electronic Tools Task Force of the Aarhus Convention, hosted by the Norwegian
Ministry of Environment and organised by UNEP/GRID-Arendal, CEROI presented its
concept of harmonised on-line reporting.
CEROI is supporting the Aarhus
Convention (on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making
and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters) by facilitating urban
environmental reporting for city authorities and the general public.
The CEROI Secretariat
Mona Grenasberg, an Advisor to the CEROI Programme, left CEROI in March after 2 years as part of the CEROI project team. Mona contributed significantly to the environmental basis of the programme.
Contact Information
UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Longum Park, Service Box
706
N-4808 Arendal, Norway
Internet: http://ceroi.net
E-mail: ceroi@grida.no
Fax: +47 37 03 50
50
Morten Sørensen
Global Programme Manager
Morten Wasstøl
CEROI Project Manager
Kathrine Johnsen
Project Officer
Angie Woo
Janet Fernandez-Skaalvik
City Contacts/Project
Assistants
Ieva Rucevska
Nickolai Denisov
Indicator Experts and
Advisors
Jarle Mjaasund
Brian Lucas
Lawrence Hislop
Web
Developers