Transcript No Slide Title - Eionet Projects

OpenForum 2003, Santa Fe
Environment: Ecoinformatics – Track A
23 January, 2003
“Just-In-Time Environmental Information”
David Stanners
Head, Strategic Development & International Cooperation
European Environment Agency
1
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in
knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have
lost in information?”
T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965), The Rock
2
The challenge – find the link to ecoinformatics & metadata registries!
• Unashamed focus on needs (content!) & policy (topdown approach)
• Assumption that any improved access to and use of
information will rely on technological solutions and
linking distributed data bases
• We need to construct our systems for the real and
evolving new needs not for old ways of working
• So focus here on new ways of working as a context for
technical discussions:  e.g. need for specialist and
non-specialist glossaries….
 First some story telling ..…
3
“Just-in-time delivery comes to knowledge
management”
Davenport & Glaser, Harvard Business review July 2002
• Bob Goldszer is associate chief medical office at a leading
Boston hospital.
• He needs to know about 10,000 diseases, 3000 medications
1100 laboratory tests and 400,000 articles added to the literature
each year.
• He works hard, but, although a Professor at Harvard, he cannot
possibly absorb all this information.
• But now, for drug prescription and lab-test ordering, he uses a
new system which automatically checks and alerts him to any
patient allergies and new relevant research findings.
• …. by using this system, he can be sure that this vast store of
information is being put to work to help support his decision
making lowering the possibility of medical errors.
4
Parallels with EEA activities?
• The EEA aims to put information to work and to
support decision making…..
• The EEA regulation mandates the Agency to provide
objective information, necessary for framing,
implementing, evaluating and assessing the results
of sound and effective environmental policies….
So what are we doing for the “Bob Goldszers”
of the environment field?
How are they being supported to reduce their
decision errors?
 more stories….
5
The peripatetic MEP
• Claudia Whitherspoon-Lisanti (real names disguised for privacy) is
a Member of the European Parliament and member of the
Environment committee.
• She has to give her opinion and argue her case on legislation
proposed by the Commission on issues ranging from climate
change, energy, transport and agriculture and the environment to
waste packaging, water, air & soil pollution and GMOs.
• Committed to evidence-based policy making, she can’t possibly
keep on top of all these issues. So she tries to use the EEA in her
work.
• She finds the EEA reports colourful and interesting, and their
website full of information, but she hardly ever finds the information
she wants, when she wants it.
• In the next debate on the EEA’s budget she’s considering speaking
against the proposed budget increase! She wants to redirect this
money to support her evidence-based policy making.
6
The disappearing Corncrake
• Duncan McCracken works for the Scottish Executive and
administers requests for support for EU agri-environment
schemes in Scotland
• A farmer near Aberdeen on the West coast of Scotland wants to
plant 100 acres of fields suitable for the fast disappearing
Corncrake.
• Duncan, pleased with the initiative and keen to spend as much
European money as possible in Scotland heartily approves.
• To get the file processed he passes it on to his young intern
Chloe O’Brian, who has just completed a PhD on land use
changes in the EU and a keen amateur ornithologist.
• Looking at the file she wryly observes that a Corncrake has not
been seen within 150 miles of Aberdeen for 50 years!
7
Medical and Environmental professionals:
am I stretching a point?
There are differences, but also similarities
• Both work with high stakes concerning life & death, quality of
life: but timing different immediate / long-term
• Medical is individual / environment is more societal
• Medical understanding and factual base strong & organised /
environment dispersed & patchy and fraught with uncertainties
• In Medicine, the doctor makes the diagnosis, treatment and
prognosis – the expert is the decision maker
• In Environment these activities are carried out by a chain of
actors – the decision maker prescribing treatment is not the
expert but a politician.
• For both medicine & environment there is a need to bring the
latest knowledge to non-experts to support their decision making
(beyond the Bob Goldszers)
8
A Proposition
• If we adopt JIT thinking across our work we will
help steer choices in system design and
prioritisation resulting in improved relevance and
effectiveness.
“We believe that this method could revolutionize
knowledge management in the same way that ‘just-intime’ systems revolutionized inventory management –
and by following much the same philosophy.”
Davenport & Glaser, 2002
9
Some characteristics of the problems
knowledge workers face
(Davenport & Glaser, 2002)
Knowledge workers:
• Must track massive amounts of complex
information
• Impossible to keep up with latest research but
need to to avoid mistakes and improve
treatment
• Impossible to “recall”, integrate and link
information at the right time
10
Some observations from the environment
information field
• Policy makers are both overwhelmed by information
and ignorant of it!
• Difficultly locating relevant information to answer their
questions
• The environment decision making chain divorces
decision makers from the knowledge workers
• Time cycle and speed of policy making do not match
with the information provision cycle
• Environment is complex, value laden and involves
many uncertainties (using the precautionary principle
is in fact nothing new for the medical field)
11
What are the underlying issues here?
1. Delivering the right information to the person
who wants it when they want it and focusing
work on that
2. Developing and providing tools (including
networks) to help knowledge workers get
information JIT
3. Improve speed of data monitoring and
information collection to be available JIT
4. Reduce the “warehouse expenses”, shifting
work (and resources) to “housing” what’s
needed  “Doing more with less” ?
12
Examples from the environment field in
Europe
• Heavy burden on the data supplier (countries)
 streamlining the data flows and overhauling
the standardised reporting directive
• The cupboards and warehouses of “useless”
information not being used  towards a
common information system for all, moving
away from dedicated reports
• Delivering interesting and aesthetically
pleasing reports that are answering the wrong
questions or issues  policy-question-based
derivation of indicators and story-line approach
13
Some ideas from Davenport & Glaser to tackle
similar issues
• Bake the specialised knowledge into the jobs of those
who need it, into their tools (ideally so they don’t have
to go and seek it out).
• Integrate both the latest information and/or the
possibility to locate the needed information
• Start with well defined common operations in critical
areas with a good knowledge base.
• Breakdown the information production system into
separate parts to improve efficiency – and increase
access and exposure (learn from Honda?)
• Make the systems responsive to feedback to improve
quality (learn from Toyota?)
14
Some points of caution from Davenport &
Glaser
But beware:
• Develop with users – a “back room” IT group could
never successfully build a suitable system.
• The higher the skill of the worker the harder it is to
embed knowledge into their job.
• “Baking-in” is expensive and complex to implement
technically and managerially – don’t undertake it
unless its worth it!
 Most solutions require the application and use of
innovative technological solutions (enter ecoinformatics!)
15
What does this thinking mean for the
environmental field?
Five proposals
1. Conceive, develop (and promote) a shared, integrated
information system (the whole car not just data capsules)
2. Breakdown the information system into constructible parts to
improve efficiency
3. Develop appropriate products & tools for the policy maker –
“bake in” knowledge in the policy process (eg, RAINS,
scenario analysis)
4. Make it easier for the “right” decisions to be made by the
decision maker (businesses/SMEs, local authorities etc)
5. Encourage feedback and participation
 All are based on a notion of the policy process…
16
The Policy Cycle
Identifying
the
Issue
Framing
the
Problem
Shaping
the
Options
Policy
proposal to
e.g. Council,
EP
Implementing
and reviewing
• In the EU the Commission steers this process
• Slow but systematic preparation
• Patchy review and audit
• 6EAP aims to improve review and audit trail
with ex-ante and ex-post analyses and SD
impact assessment
17
1. Conceive, develop (and promote) a shared,
integrated information system
• Since 2001, the EEA has identified and
promoted this idea (main part of its strategy) to
support the framing, implementation and
assessment of environmental policy.
• Similar needs identified in countries and
international organisations
• Working closely with UNEP and WHO to
develop common approach
18
Elements of the shared European
Environmental Information System
Other
International
organisations institutions
EEA
User access
Shared
EEIS
information
Shared
EIONET
information
GMET, EDEN,
shared tools
Information
Infrastructure
Other
National institutions
Networks
19
EIONET
Users
Decision
makers,
informed
public, general
public
policy
relevant
assessments
transparent
information
management
harmonised
collection
Common validation
and aggregation
Principles of Shared European Environment
Information System (EEIS)
provide once
use many
Could we agree common principles internationally?
20
2. Breakdown the system into constructible
parts to improve efficiency
• For a long time environment reporting tended
to cover everything from the component design
and manufacture to full assembly.
• This was because the parts available were not
designed to fit so new ones had to be made
each time.
• Once you understand what’s needed you can
re-engineer your system and separate the
processes.
 But can we keep the “separate” processes
working together?
21
EEA’s CURRENT BUSINESS PROCESS 1
“Indicator” Management Tool
DATA
HANDLING
DATA
COLLECTION
National systems
PRODUCT
DISSEMINATION
• The 3 major processes inside our EEA business process.
• Each has a similar complexity with overlaps.
• The chain represents the current flow from right to left.
• Each process has a team behind it.
• All 3 have complete different clients/users and needs to do their work.
22
EEA’s CURRENT BUSINESS PROCESS 2
“Indicator” Management Tool
DATA
HANDLING
DATA
COLLECTION
FLOW
• Here the interest is to develop the data collection
area to ensure that the chain of data flow over the
whole MDIAK process works.
23
National systems
PRODUCT
DISSEMINATION
EEA’s CURRENT BUSINESS PROCESS 3
“Indicator” Management Tool
DATA
HANDLING
FLOW
?
FLOW
?
DATA
COLLECTION
?
National systems
PRODUCT
DISSEMINATION
• Data flow is interesting to all 3 business processes.
• Each process will have different wishes and needs in how to use these
relationships.
• Such functionalities are going to be developed in each process separately
because they know their clients – can they be kept compatible?
24
Information Pyramid
Bottom-up
Top-down
Reports
Knowledge
Access,
dissemination,
GEMET, EDEN
Major integrated assessments
Indicator
management,
Factsheets
Databases,
data
warehouses
Snapshot signals
Assessment
Indicators
Core set of indicators
Data
Guidelines,
manuals,
repositories
25
Integrated
environmental
assessment
Priority dataflows
Monitoring
Frameworks
DEMs
Benefits of unpacking
• Unpacking the processes helps to release
blockages in the assembly line and release
resources.
• You can only do this though when you know how
the whole works and for environment this will
always only be partially true (its not a technology!)
• Given the uncertainties need to keep control of the
whole process and respond to feedbacks.
26
3. Develop appropriate products & tools for the
policy maker
• Policy makers here mean ministers or parliamentarians
and their senior advisors
• Policy makers often shut themselves away to frame
their policy issues and come to a decision
• The chain of knowledge experts need to provide inputs
into the system to help minimise “mistakes”
• “Bake in” knowledge in the policy making process:
– the RAINS model
– Scenario analysis
27
The RAINS model exceedances maps baking in
geological information for target setting
N-critical load
exceedance
28
Scenario analysis
Purpose:
• In the policy framing and development process:
to help foresee “unintended consequences”
to support the identification of alternatives visions and options
to encourage new thinking “out of the box”.
• In the policy implementation & review stages to support:
prospective trends analysis
identification of bifurcations
possible weaknesses in existing policies.
Examples:
– Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
– World Water Commission
29
Design tools for policy makers tasks
• Using modelling and scenario analysis on
policy makers problems in their decision
making processes you can “bake in” existing
knowledge and allow exploration of alternatives
within known constraints.
• This gives everyone greater confidence in the
process and improves transparency and
participation.
30
4. Make it easier for the “right” decisions to be
made by the decision maker
• Decision makers here mean the “doers” in society such
as businesses/SMEs, local authorities, householders
• They are trying to run their lives, run businesses, local
authorities
• They have to follow hard laws and regulations, but also…
• Many try to follow environmental-friendly options & best
practice but it’s not always easy….
• It is in the interest of the policy maker and the knowledge
specialists to help them.
31
How to “bake in” knowledge in the decision
making process
• Information portals – eg, EEA’s
EnviroWindows
• Intelligent query systems operating with
distributed databases – eg, EDEN project
• “Baking in” knowledge in the marketplace
32
An information portal: Sustainable tourism interactive portal
33
Portals and continuous information
provision
• Improve harmonization by eliciting information sharing of
existing voluntary schemes
• Provide platforms for discussions and participatory
methods
• Updating web based repositories on minimum
requirements, exposing data and processes for
indicators
• Allow comparability among environmental performance
of products and services
• Spread positive experiences on eco-efficient solutions
34
Intelligent query systems
EDEN: an EPA and EEA project
• Solving environmental problems requires integration of
data, information and knowledge from a multitude of
sources and from different networks.
• The idea of developing EDEN started at the first meeting
between the EEA and EPA in Washington in 1996.
• EDEN allows to query multiple databases providing
answers tailored to different user types such as: Citizen,
Regulator, Scientist, Site Manager.
• EDEN first focused on Hazardous Waste databases and
was financed by US government agencies: the EEA
provided data.
35
Intelligent query systems
EDEN: an EPA and EEA project
• EDEN is now dealing with Inland Water databases and
financed by the EU commission: EPA is participating as
user of project results
• EDEN attempts to go beyond homepages on remote
data access, to be scalable, to tie diverse data
sources to each other, to access heterogeneous
environmental data, and to facilitate the work of
professionals in multiple sectors.
36
“Baking in” knowledge in the marketplace
Examples
– voluntary regimes and agreements
– environmental management systems,
– labeling
– prices
– “good” subsidies
 From mandatory to voluntary actions
37
From mandatory to voluntary actions
From Government
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Compliance with mandatory requirements
Public Voluntary schemes
Negotiated Agreements
International Environmental Standards
Corporate Environmental Management
Technology and process selection
Household consumptive choices
Individual personal decisions
To Private
38
Evolution of Corporate Environmental
Management
Scope level of
CEM fully
integrated with
Life Cycle
Analysis (LCA)
participation
Increasing
“baking in”
Corporate
Environmental
Policy
No
Environmental
Management
Systems (EMS)
Compliance
Only
Financial
Bottom line
39
EMS Unstructured
Reporting or
information on
compliance
issues
CEM extended to
personnel and
purchasing
Corporate
Assignment of
Environmental
Management (CEM) responsibilities
on production
CER more
processes
comprehensive
not GRI
Corporate
conformant
Environmental
Reports (CER) not
Use of
conformant with
telecommunicatio
Global Reporting
n and information
Initiative (GRI)
systems for
linking with
Unidirectional
agencies, citizens,
communication
suppliers, etc.
with stakeholders
Time
Cost accounting
of externalities
Auditing
CER on triple
button lines,
S&H, and ethical
issues – GRI
conformant
Interactive
stakeholder
engagement
Participatory
approaches to
environmental
decisions
5. Encourage feedback and participation
• Make information accessible – exposing
information improves quality
• Develop participatory processes throughout the
policy cycle linking policy makers, decision
makers, scientists etc (users, “doers” and the
public).
• Improve responsiveness to feedback
40
The (Public) Policy Cycle
European Commission
Identifying
the
Issue
Framing
the
Problem
Shaping
the
Options
Policy
proposal to
e.g. Council,
EP
The Policy process considers
the views and inputs of
Experts
41
Interested
Parties
Implementing
and reviewing
These were the five proposals to promote
Just-in-time environmental information
1. Conceive, develop (and promote) a shared, integrated
information system (the whole car not just data capsules)
2. Breakdown the information system into constructible parts to
improve efficiency
3. Develop appropriate products & tools for the policy maker –
“bake in” knowledge in the policy process (eg, RAINS,
scenario analysis)
4. Make it easier for the “right” decisions to be made by the
decision maker (businesses/SMEs, local authorities etc)
5. Encourage feedback and participation
 All have technological demands, imply integration of
diverse information, and thus increase need for
appropriate meta-data.
42
A last point on the Precautionary Principle
…….which is a principle concerning how to use
scientific information for public policy making
(especially when there are large uncertainties and the
stakes are high) recognising the contribution and limits
of science.
We have a paradox – if we are successful with all of the
above we may still not be any better off….
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where
is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
T. S. Eliot (1888 - 1965), The Rock
43
Measuring is Not Knowing:
The Marine Environment and the Precautionary
Principle
‘The enormous number of papers in the marine environment
means that huge amounts of data are available, but …we
have reached a sort of plateau in …the understanding of
what the information is telling us …. We… seem not to be
able to do very much about it or with it. This is what led to
the precautionary principle, after all – we do not know
whether, in our studied ecosystem, a loss of diversity would
matter, and it might’.
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol 34, No. 9, pp. 680-681, 1997
44
Late lessons from Early Warnings:
the Precautionary Principle
1896-2000’ EEA (2002)
Aim: To help encourage the use of better information for wiser
decision making
‘…my most fundamental objective is to urge a
change in the perception and evaluation of
familiar data’
Thomas S. Kuhn
‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’, 1962
45
Some summary observations from
“Late lessons”
• Need to use a variety of ‘knowledges’ (many scientific disciplines,
‘lay’ and ‘local’ knowledge) to help maximise understanding and
detect/anticipate some “surprises”
• Produce more integrated and structured knowledge to address
key policy questions and policy decisions
• Give equal access to information
• Ensure transparency of knowledge-creation and use
• Establish long-term environmental and health monitoring and
better dissemination of research results so that evidence of the
‘surprise’ emerges earlier
• Use participative scenarios to help foresee some ‘unintended
consequences.’
 these all concern improving Just-in-time information
46
The Need for Comprehensive and Integrated
Approaches to Framing, Identifying and
Evaluating Environmental and Health Hazards:
an early US Recommendation.
Conference of Experts, Woods Hole, Mass., USA, August 15-18, 1962
“…it is evident that optimisation of natural resources for
human use and welfare cannot be achieved by fragmentary and
sporadic attention to isolated parts of the problem, but that the
issues involved must be made the subject of a permanent and
systematic process of investigation, recording and evaluation,
carried on continuously in reference to the total perspective…”
47
The Need For an Independent Intelligence
Agency for Environmental Issues: an early US
Recommendation (1962)
Conference of Experts, Woods Hole, Mass, USA, August 15-18, 1962
“In view of the ever-increasing rate of man-made alterations,
with their ever-widening circle of sequelae, an intelligence
agency of broad scope would have to cultivate the highest
degrees of perceptiveness and sensitivity so as to be able to
feel the pulse of the ecosystem, and to register and address
incipient developments before they have reached critical
dimensions. These diagnoses would then serve as guides for
action programs, precautionary measures and the
exploration of alternative courses.”
48
“Science, like life in general, is
continuously forgetting and
rediscovering old truths”
Brody, 1945
49
EEA
European Environment Agency
Copenhagen · Denmark
http://www.eea.eu.int
50