Evolution of the Environmental Information System in a Central European Country: The Case of Hungary

Szabó, Elemér (2005) Evolution of the Environmental Information System in a Central European Country: The Case of Hungary. In: OECD–Latin America and the Caribbean Conference on Environmental Information for Decision-Making: Data, Indicators and Reporting, 2005.10.28-2005.10.29, Cancun.

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Abstract

The end of the 1980s marked the beginning of profound changes in the political, economic and social structures. These changes have had significant impact on the characteristics and content of governmental activities. The parliamentary democracy increased the significance of objectivity, preciseness and preparedness of governmental decisions. These impacts underline the importance of the information background of the government decision-making process, or more specifically, the importance of information systems in the state administration and information policy, which determines information systems in longer term. The government needs updated and harmonised environmental data to formulate environmental policy, thereby giving background to legislation, and to inform the public on environmental protection issues. Different ministries and institutions collect environmental data and a process of data standardisation and harmonisation is necessary. The main programmes at the Ministry of Environment in the mid and late 1990s were: reorganisation of the data collection system; development of the information system setting different Thematic Information Centres in 3 Hungarian locations, and the opening of a UNEP/GRID centre for the development of an environmental meta-database; the revision of the report on the state of environment in Hungary on the Internet; and participation in the European Environmental Information and Observation Network. Environment-related information plays an important role not only in strategic planning and programming, defining goals and measuring progress of implementation, but they serve as an essential instrument in establishing decisions and informing the public at large. Recently at the public level, environmental information and environmental statistical data were made accessible via World Wide Web, while certain professional information was also publicly available. Major strengths and shortfalls during the development of an environmental information system in the last one and a half decade show that a good strategy for information system development is crucial, and those external conditions such as legislation and financing are essentially influencing the effectiveness of advancement. Areas for progress and planned actions in the future are also discussed.

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