APS : Thursday, 18 February 2016
ALGIERS-A national system for environmental information (EIS) has been implemented by the National Observatory for Environment and Sustainable Development (ONEDD), as part of a cooperation program with the European Union, the Head of the Observatory Mohamed Moali said.
This environmental information system was introduced after a 18-month twinning program between Algeria, France and Austria, whose closing ceremony was held Thursday in Algiers.
Called “support for ONEDD to improve its operational capabilities and implementation of SIE”, this twinning program is part of the Support Plan for the implementation of the Association Agreement between Algeria and the EU (P3A).
With a € 850,000 budget and an Algerian participation of DZD 12 million, this program has not only enabled to equip this observatory with an environmental database in accordance with EU standards, it also allowed strengthening its capacity for collection, processing and interpretation of geographic and environmental data,” Moali stressed.
Supervised by 15 European experts (11 French and 4 Austrians), ONEDD’s technicians and engineers received more training and expertise to enable them master the operation of the EIS, and to share data with institutions working in environment in order to improve the management of environmental problems, said the same official.
For the project manager in Algeria, Amina Benzekri, the database would develop specific reports on the state of the environment in Algeria and release them in the form of information for the general public to raise awareness about environmental issues.
All organizations and institutions working in the environment should be involved to feed this system and provide “timely and accurate” information. The aim is to provide a basis for the development of plans and environmental protection strategies in the country, she noted.
