Public access to environmental information or public generated environmental information? Presentation that was given in 2010 in several places

1. Public access to environmental information or
public generated environmental information
Muki Haklay, CEGE, UCL
Source: iMP

2. Outline
• The development of environmental information
within the wider „environmental‟ theme
• Three phases:
– Experts access
– Top-down delivery
– Collaborative
• Summary and future directions

3. The modern environmental movement
1987 – Montreal
1972 –
1962 – Silent 1970 – USA protocol,
Stockholm
Spring Earth Day Our Common
Conference
Future
2001 –
1992 - Rio
1997 – Kyoto 1998 – Aarhus Johannesburg
Conference,
Protocol convention Conference
Agenda 21
(Rio + 10)
2005 – UK
2006 - An
2003 – Aarhus Environmental 2009 –
inconvenient
EU directives information Copenhagen
truth
regulations

4. Themes
• Local pollution concern (Clean Air Act) to global
issues (Climate change)
• Developing vs. Developed world
• Role of government and civic society – growing
acceptance of stakeholders in decision making
processes
• From specific environmental concerns to
sustainable development

5. US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ,1970
• Technologies: environmental impact assessment,
state of the environment report, CEQ.
„…Each member shall be a person who, as a result of his
training, experience, and attainments, is exceptionally
well qualified to analyze and interpret environmental
trends and information of all kinds…‟ (U.S. Congress,
1970, sec. 201)

6. Information in environmental decision
making
1972 Stockholm declaration, Principles 19 & 20 –
differentiating between experts and the public:
“It is also essential that mass media of
communications … disseminates information of an
educational nature on the need to protect and
improve the environment”
“In this connection, the free flow of up-to-date
scientific information and transfer of experience
must be supported and assisted, to facilitate the
solution of environmental problems”

7. Information systems
• 1972 – INFOTERRA – Mainframe based directory of
environmental expertise, used by national nodes
• 1982 – Global Resources Information Database –
GRID – a global Geographical Information System
with information about environmental conditions

8. The costs of environmental information
• 1977 – Infoterra (5 years in development) ($1500 per
query, which could be answered with good card library)
• 1985 – Global Resources Information Database “for cost-
effective telecommunication between GRID nodes, direct
satellite links will clearly have to be established…”
($2000000 investment in 1985)

9. Phase I – 1970-1990
• Deficit model
• Top-down attitude to environmental decision
making
• Environmental information by experts, for
experts

10. Rio - Principle 10 (1992)
„Environmental issues are best handled with
participation of all concerned citizens, at the
relevant level. At the national level, each
individual shall have appropriate access to
information concerning the environment that is held
by public authorities, including information on
hazardous materials and activities in their
communities, and the opportunity to participate in
decision-making processes. States shall facilitate
and encourage public awareness and participation by
making information widely available. Effective
access to judicial and administrative proceedings,
including redress and remedy, shall be provided.‟

11. Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision Making and Access to justice
in Environmental Matters (UN/ECE,1998)
„…Improved access to information and public
participation in decision-making enhance the quality
and the implementation of decisions, contribute to
public awareness of environmental issues, give the
public opportunity to express its concerns and enable
public authorities to take due account of such
concerns...‟ (P. 2).
„…Each party shall ensure that environmental information
progressively becomes available in electronic
databases which are easily accessible to the public
through public telecommunications networks...‟
(Article 3.3).

12. The assumptions behind Aarhus
Public access to information
Public is more aware of environmental issues and is able to
participate in decision-making
Public participation in environmental decision making provides
legitimacy, improved decisions and environmental justice

13. Environmental Tecnophilia
Agenda 21 - “National and international data and information centres
should set up continuous and accurate data-collection systems and make
use of geographic information systems, expert systems, models and a
variety of other techniques for the assessment and analysis of data.”
"Using new electronic technologies can become a major tool in giving
the public easy, cheap, direct access to information that the authorities
hold. Using electronic means, in a sophisticated manner, is the answer
to those countries' fear that they cannot provide the necessary
manpower to respond to the needs of the public for information and
participation in more bureaucratic manners." - John Hontelez, SG
European Environmental Bureau, Environment for Europe Conference,
Aarhus, Denmark, June 1998.

14. 1994
ArcInfo 7
SAS
1997 version, Archive.org CIESIN, EPA, Environment Canada

15. 1995
Sun Sparc 20
ArcInfo 7 (donated by ESRI)
Oracle 6
Susan Pipes, Leslie St. James

16. 1999

17. 1998

18. 2000

19. 2008
http://www.environment-agency

23. 2010

28. 1997

30. 2008
http://www.naei.org.uk/emissions/postcode_2003.php

33. 2004
http://www.londonnoisemap.com/

36. Phase II – 1990 – 2000
• Public access to environmental information is
seen as a prerequisite to participation
• The Web is emerging as a dissemination medium
• Delivery is top-down, experts preparing
information for the public

37. Issues with environmental information
delivery
• Use of jargon and technical terminology
• Different semantic scale – from raw data to
processed reports
• Use of maps and GIS – but with an assumption
that the user is familiar with the technology

38. Issues with environmental information
delivery – web GIS
• Many usability problems:
– Scale
– Cartography
– Selection
– Content
– Semantics

40. The rise of citizen-science
• Background: environmental inequalities /
environmental justice
• Mistrust in official sources or „this is not
community information in community language‟
• Alternative: local data collection

42. Archway
• Archway is experiencing high volumes of traffic
and there are local problems resulting from the
major traffic node that is passing through the
area. These are examples from the work that we
have carried out with the Better Archway Forum

43. Perceptions and
Issues Mapping
These scans are part of a community survey of perceptions and issues

44. Identifying key issues
Pedestrian
Issues were
identified as a
problem that
the community
want to collect
more
information
about

45. Archway Pedestrian
Surveys were carried out
in collaboration with
Space Syntax who
specialised in pedestrian
movement analysis

46. Results of the
survey were
used by the
community to
discuss future
planning
directions
Saturday 12:00 to 14:00
500 to 700
350 to 500
200 to 350
100 to 200
1 to 100
Space Syntax

47. Noise mapping training

48. Pepys – Noise Mapping

49. Distribution of Survey Points

50. 50m Squares - Averages
Numbers indicate how
Many readings in each
50m square

51. Diffusion tubes
Source: West Wiltshire

54. Summary
• Public access to environmental information evolves from
authoritative, top-down to collaborative contribution
• However, Access to environmental information must be
seen as a band-aid, covering a serious problem in
environmental decision making and environmental
democracy.
• Participation is not just about scientific and government
information, it is also about local knowledge and
understanding – and non-scientific arguments should be
allowed in. But how?