Application of GIS/GPS/RS in
Environmental Data management

GOAL/OBJECTIVE

• The goal is to allow resource allocation and environmental management decisions to be based on up-to-date/accurate information.
• The objective of our department will be to provide the mechanisms that will allow sharing of information in a timely manner among other departments of the Ministry of Environment as well as government institutions concerned with environmental and natural resources issues.

• Staff capacity will be increased and institutions strengthened in order to make informed decisions regarding sustainable development;
• Information sharing and exchanging promotion policies will be established for concerned institutions;
• The availability and accessibility of environmental and natural resources data to national government agencies and international community will be enhanced.

Environmental Data/Information

• Bio-physical data
• Socio-economic data

Core Dataset Preparation Requirement

• Infrastructure;
• Soil Class;
• Vegetation Cover;
• Air quality Measurement;
• Demography;
• Climate Zonation;
• Administrative Boundaries;
• Topography;
• Land Use;
• Geology;
• Major Harvesting Activities;
• Water Quality Measurements;
• Soil Analysis Samples.

Meta-Database Preparation

Metadata refers to "data which describes data," including, data catalogues, data dictionaries, indexes and the like.

Each map should contain the reference year for the data types used, and the source of the data. There are two forms of data representation: i) State of Data that shows the state of a resource at one point in time, ii) Change in State that shows the change in state between two different times.

As data sets for different time periods are acquired, Change of State mapping should be used to enable the user to more readily assess environmental changes.

On-going activities are concentrated in:

• Preparation, storage, maintenance, and updating of data/information, including data catalogues, data dictionaries, indexes and the like;
• Capacity building in GIS and database management (including training, institutional strengthening and training of trainers); and
• Developing a national GIS database for Environmental Assessment and State of the Environment (SoE) Reporting.

APPLICATION OF GIS IN SUPPORT OF THE COASTAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

Summary of Key Issues for Coastal and Marine Waters

• Seven major issues in the coastal and marine areas of Cambodia were identified:
• An almost complete lack of basic infrastructure for coastal and marine environmental management;
• The absence of reliable data and base information from which to prepare and implement plans and projects;
• Severely degraded physical infrastructure: roads; irrigation systems; coastal protection dikes, etc.
• Continuing lack of security in some of the coastal areas;
• A severely inadequate legal and policy framework for coastal and marine environmental management in particular, and for government and public administration in general;
• Pervasive poverty; and
• Degradation of productive natural resources, primarily fisheries and forestry resources (including those contained in protected areas) that results primarily from poverty, a lack of physical infrastructure; and lack of security.

Changes in Condition and Protection of Existing Coastal and Marine Protected Areas

Status of Coastal Environment

The principal indicators of the status of the coastal environment are suggested for the initial periods for information reporting.

For all indicators it is important to know where they occur:

Environmental Effects

Resource Management

• Changes in volume and species of the fish catch
• Changes in fishing effort and methods
• Changes in employment in fishing
• Changes in aquaculture production from marine and brackish water sources
• Changes in size of protected marine and shoreline area
• Trade in marine species
• Occurrence of spills

Socio-economic

• Changes in industrial activity
• Changes in industrial waste loads
• Changes in population, income and employment
• Changes in human waste loads
• Changes in agricultural activity
• Changes in agricultural waste loads
• Changes in land use

Coastal Map Development

• When considering developing a GIS-based macro scale reporting system, one must take into account the following:
• Costs associated with data acquisition, data preparation, and geo-referencing, not to mention updating of that data on a periodic basis;
• Data available or available in a format that meets geographical reporting are not considered all important;
• A single agency never has all data that would be needed in a geo-referenced coastal and marine environmental information management system; and
• Presentation of information in map form requires a basis for locating the information in the map. Concepts used in a textural document do not readily transfer to a map in a GIS.

Base Map Units

Where specific boundaries or locations for data are not known the data or the data concerns input to the coastal zone from inland (e.g. Sediment loads of rivers) the data should be referenced to the smallest coastal administrative unit (e.g. district, county, province).

The preferred "Map Reporting Unit" or MRU is for the district level. However, recognizing the practicality of scale and the logistical implications to establish a uniform level of data for reporting, it is recommended that the initial mapping system focus at the provincial level.

This map unit structure will allow a convenient way to provide a local, provincial and national level of reporting with defined geographic referencing.

Reference Data

Below is a guide to attribute data reporting.

Stream-flow: Where possible list as many of the following parameters as feasible:

• Name of monitoring station (more than one station may be entered)
• Year or record
• Drainage area (km²)
• Mean monthly flows (cubic meters per second)
• Peak flow (cubic meters per second)
• Date of peak flow
• Lowest flow in record (cubic meters per second)
• Date of lowest flow

Numbers or percentage of people employed in main sectors (e.g. Tourism, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Forestry, Commerce, Retail, Oil industry, Fishing, Aquaculture, others) for the MRU

Endangered/rare species: List marine species for the MRU (as far as this is known):

• mammals
• birds
• fish
• shellfish
• amphibians/reptiles
• Note endangered or rare species found in map unit (if none state none)

Waste handling facilities:

A COASTAL AND MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Every data set must have a metadata code, which identifies the source of the data, when the data was collected or measured or monitored or surveyed by the source organization. This is very important for all data and especially important for ecosystem and habitat data. Every map legend should have a list of metadata for the base map and reference codes to an appendix for the attribute and map data sources and data of collection.

Generalized map series consist of map data and map types

E.g. For Water Quality

Coastal and Marine Environmental Database Development

Databases used for environmental data at the Ministry of Environment are evaluated to determine whether an existing database design and/or their data could be readily used for a GIS-based coastal and marine environmental information system. While many fields are useful, the database structures must be altered to enable geo-referencing before they can be used in GIS. Database structure should be compatible whenever possible to facilitate the development of integrated data management systems (Biophysical and socio-economic databases should use Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Access, FoxPro, for example).

CONCLUSION

Due to the fact that geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology is very important tool for planning, management and monitoring of natural resources, the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia in pursuing its objectives of rehabilitating the country’s economy and alleviating the people’s poverty is keen to develop an integrated information system.

In this matter, GIS and remote sensing technology is considered a particularly important tool for the Ministry of Environment which is charged with managing, improving and preserving the country’s environment. In order to meet the requirements for the successful application of remote sensing and GIS in sustainable development, not only should the staff of the relevant institutions be well trained, but Cambodia still lacks experience in and facilities for producing maps. Cambodia therefore continues to seek technical assistance in increasing staff capacity, institution building and other key areas to enhance its ability to improve the availability and accessibility of environment and natural resources data, and establish an information exchange network and compatible data set for environmental planning and management.

REFERENCES:

Coastal and Marine Environment Management Information System, UNEP/EAP-AP (’96);

Sub-Regional Environmental Monitoring and Information System, ADB & Roche Int’l (’96);

GIS/RS Office, the Ministry of Environment.