Title: Improving data usability for environmental indicators in Strategic Environmental Assessment
1Improving data usability for environmental
indicators in Strategic Environmental Assessment
- 1Peter Mooney 2Alison Donnelly
- 1National Centre for Geocomputation, NUI
Maynooth. - 2School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College
Dublin. - Environmental Research Centre, Environmental
Protection Agency. - IRELAND
2There are many sources of baselinedata/informatio
n in SEA
3Data Gaps occur in a variety of ways
- Data does not/never did exist
- Data is physically in-accessible
- Data is too old or just not applicable
- Data is of very poor quality
- Wrong level of aggregation (temporal or geog)
or wrong scale - Data distributed in an in-accessible way
- political or human barriers
- software or cost barriers
4Responsibility for Data Issues from Collection
to End Usage
Data collectors Data managers Data users
Data does not exist -- --
Data is physically inaccessible --
Data is too old out of date -- -- --
Very poor quality --
Incorrect level of aggregation -- --
Distribution/Access (human barriers)
Distribution/Access (cost barriers)
Distribution/Access (Software/Format)
-- (No Responsibility)
(Responsibility)
5Post-SEA can provide for feedback
Predict Significant Environmental Effects
Environmental Data Stored
Used By
SEA
Monitoring Actual Effects of the Plan
Feedback Inform/Identify Problems
Environmental Data Collection And Analysis
6Midlands Waste Management Plan
HUMAN HEALTH There is a lack of human health
data available at national, or regional level in
relation to waste management, however an overview
is given here. A literature review in 2003 on the
effects of various forms of waste diaposal
Health and Environmental Effects of Landfilling
and Incineration of Waste A Literature Review,
concluded that Ireland has insufficient resources
to carry out adequate risk assessment.
- Are there any clues as to why there is a lack of
human health data? - Are these data hidden from public access?
- Are they only available in paper format?
7Midlands Waste Management Plan
- Data gaps
- Three are a number of areas where there is
insufficient data or where the level of detail is
not sufficient for the purpose of baseline. - Groundwater vulnerability and aquifer
classification data for Westmeath, Longford and
Offaly - Air quality data that is specific to the impacts
due to waste (main source Annual Environmental
Reports) - Human health data relevant to waste facilities
- Biological water quality data upstream and
downstream of significant waste facilities - Traffic or number or journeys related to waste
transport and waste activities - Energy consumption data for waste facilities
- Which of these data gaps are as a result of
data access problems? - Which of these data gaps are as a result of
data not actually existing?
8Greater Dublin Water Supply
Data Gap Impacts on otter activity Impacts on
breeding waterfowl listed in Annex 1 of the EU
Birds Directive Impacts on the wetted perimeter
downstream of Lough Ree and impacts of the
predicted increase in the duration in minimum
downstream flows of approximately 12m3/sec (54
days to73 days) on biodiversity and the River
Shannon.
Data Gap Unknown sites of cultural heritage
- What are the reasons for these gaps?
- Can the Environmental Report speculate or provide
examples?
9Draft Rural Development Plan Wales
- Transboundary problems are evident here
- Ontological problems also evident
- Data Scale problems
- Data providers need to improve their service
10SEA can provide very useful feedback for data
collection/management
- SEA Breaks away from traditional
producer/consumer data model - SEA needs - good data quickly at useful
scales and levels of aggregation - In a unique position to provide feedback on
problems encountered when collecting baseline
data and information - Thank you for your attention!