ministry of energy, development and environmental protection of the republic of serbia development...

Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia

Development of the Ecoregister, Development of the Ecoregister, a a national metaregister for national metaregister for

environmental information in the environmental information in the Republic of SerbiaRepublic of Serbia

Tina Janjatović and Ivan Jarić

Geneva, December 2013


Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental ProtectionMinistry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Environmental Protection AgencyEnvironmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the Organization for Security and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have implemented a project of the development of the first National Metaregister for Environmental Information.

Project of the development of the first national metaregister for environmental information lasted for eight months, from May 2012 to January 2013.

http://www.merz.gov.rs/cir


A project implementation team was established, consisted of four experts who worked in cooperation with the representatives of the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection and the Environmental Protection Agency on database design, development and data gathering.

Metaregister was given the name Ecoregister, to make it more accessible to the general public.

During the Ecoregister designing and development, non-governmental organizations engaged within the field of environmental protection have been timely consulted.

A questionnaire was sent to over 100 NGOs with a wide range of questions, such as those related to the type of environmental information they need during their work, as well as the types of information they consider important to be included in the Ecoregister.


Ministry also organized a public discussion with non-governmental sector representatives, where they had an opportunity to become acquainted with the Ecoregister development project, and to present their views and opinions about the planned contents of the database.


Regarding the legal framework for the Ecoregister establishment, Republic of Serbia has ratified the Aarhus Convention on 12th May 2009, which in the Article 5, paragraph 2, prescribes the establishment of the register for environmental information.

In 2003, a Directive 2003/4/ECDirective 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information was adopted, which is harmonized with the Articles 4 and 5 of the Aarhus Convention.


The Article 3, paragraph 5 of this Directive, prescribes the establishment of the registers or lists of the environmental information held by public authorities or information points, with clear indications of where such information can be found.

Based on these regulations, a national Strategy for the national Strategy for the implementation of the Aarhus Conventionimplementation of the Aarhus Convention, adopted by the Government on 31st December 2011 („Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 103/11), prescribed the establishment of a national metadata register of environmental information within the “Measures related to the establishment of the efficient information system”.


Ecoregister was installed as a subdomain of the Internet presentation of the Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Serbia, on the following web address: www.ekoregistar.sepa.gov.rswww.ekoregistar.sepa.gov.rs


Ecoregister represents an electronic database and a portal to the existing databases and documents with environmental information that are available on the Internet.

Ecoregister comprises environmental information that is kept and maintained by responsible ministries, agencies, local governments, protected area managers, as well as the available data on the state of all segments of the environment (air, water and soil pollution), waste, pollution emitters, flora and fauna, etc.


The main aim of the Ecoregister establishment is to provide quick, easy and simple public access to environmental information, and to improve general availability of such information for the general public.


The provisions regarding the establishment and maintenance of the Ecoregister are incorporated into the Law on Amendments to the Law on Environmental Protection, which is in the adoption procedure.

Ecoregister contains two types of entries:

Relevant institutions Relevant documents

Institution types:

- ministries, agencies, departments, institutes, museums, etc.

- cities, municipalities, public utility companies, etc.

- protected area managers

- business entities

- non-governmental organizations


Major document types:

- legal documents, strategic documents and plans

- databases, registries, information systems

- studies, reports, projects

- informational and educational documents

Database developed both in Serbian and English language


Each document entry is characterized by several parameters:

- document name, publication year

- responsible institution(s) with their contact data

- document type (study, legal document, report, etc.)

- areas covered by the document (biodiveristy, air, soil, water, pollution, energy sources, etc.)

- language (Serbian, English or other)

- Internet link (if available)


For the information that is not available online, Ecoregister provides information about institutions that are responsible for their publishing and maintenance, with the contact data of responsible persons in those institutions, and the description of the application procedure for the access to information.


Five types of data search:


Database search by maps:

CitiesCities

MunicipalitiMunicipalitieses

ProtecteProtected areasd areas

EnterprisEnterpriseses


Other Ecoregister website contents:

Key national institution that ensures free public access to information

- description of the Commisioner’s responsibilities and powers

- description of public free information access rights, and procedures for filing complaints in case of a refusal to grant access to information

- download links for official forms for making access to information requests and for filing complaints

- download of relevant legal documents and informational material


Currently, Ecoregister contains entries for over 700 institutions and more than 4000 documents.

Ecoregister fully operational since December 2012

Significant number of visitors during the last year, but efforts are currently made to further improve its visibility


Major weakness of any database is the constant need for data updating

Ongoing project for Ecoregister updating, funded by OSCE

Beside contacting all relevant institutions to check for updates and corrections, and extensive Internet search, a new system for automatic data updating is currently being developed


Thank you for your Thank you for your attention!attention!


www.ekoregistar.sepa.gov.rswww.ekoregistar.sepa.gov.rs

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