The ENRIN Publications for Russia:



UNEP/GRID-Arendal 1995. Environmental Information Systems in the Russian Federation -- Assessment Report

Author: Nickolai Denisov
UNEP/EAP.TR/95-04
GA/205024-95/5
ISBN: 92-807-1517-8
Cover design: Litangen & Kuvaas
Layout: Nickolai Denisov
Front cover map: Philippe Rekacewicz (Le Monde Diplomatique, Paris)

UNEP

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Tel. +254 2 62 1234

GRID-Arendal

Longum Park, P.O. Box 1602, Myrene, N-4801 Arendal, NORWAY
Tel. +47 370 35650
Fax +47 370 35050
E-mail: grid@grida.no
WWW: http://www.grida.no

The reproduction of this publication in whole or in part for purposes of resale or redistribution requires prior written permission from the copyright holder.

The view expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of UNEP.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
	1. INTRODUCTION
	2. BACKGROUND
		2.1. Russia Today
		2.2. Environmental Problems and Management
		2.3. National Information Policy and Practice
	3. ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION CAPACITIES
		3.1. Institutional Structure and Data Generation Activities
		3.2. Environmental Information Systems and Products
		3.3. Professional and Public Use of Environmental Information
		3.4. Legal and Economic Framework
	4. NETWORKING NEEDS AND PROBLEMS
		4.1. Co-operative Agreements
		4.2. Regional Programmes
		4.3. Strengthening the National Information Network
		4.4. Access to International Information Resources
		4.5. Public Domain Data and Information Distribution
REFERENCES
MEETINGS USED AS INFORMATION SOURCES
APPENDICES
	Appendix 1. Selected Contact Addresses
	Appendix 2. Metainformation and Directories
	Appendix 3. National State-of-the-Environment Reporting
	Appendix 4. Selected Acts on Environmental Information
	Appendix 5. Overview of the ENRIN Programme

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

FIGURES

Figure 1. Administrative division of the Russian Federation

Figure 2. Socio-economic regions of Russia

Figure 3. Federal-level environmental management system in the Russian Federation

TABLES

Table 1. Major environmental problems by regions of Russia

Table 2. Principal environmental data responsibilities of selected state agencies


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Last updated May 10, 1996 by Lorant Czaran / Go to GRID Arendal Homepage Homepage


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AN SSSR			Academy of Science of the USSR
BAPMON 			Background Atmospheric Pollution Monitoring
CAN 			Centre for Analysis of Science
CD-ROM			Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
CEC			Commission of the European Communities
CINAO 			Central Institute for Agrochemical Support of Agriculture
CIP 			Centre for International Projects
CIS 			Commonwealth of Independent States
CISN			Centre of Research and Statistics on Science
CNIIAtomInform 		Centre for Public Information on Nuclear Energy
CNTI 			Centre of Information on Research and Engineering
DEA 			Division of Environment Assessmen
EEA 			European Environment Agency
EEP 			East European Programme
ENRIN 			Environment and Natural Resource Information Networks
EPA			Environmental Protection Agency
ESA 			European Space Agency
FAPSI			Federal Agency for Governmental Communications and Information
FCGS 			Federal Centre for Geo-Ecological Systems
GDP 			Gross Domestic Product
GenProkuratura			Office of the Prosecutor-General
GGO 			Main Geophysical Observatory
GIPE			State Institute of Applied Ecology
GIS 			Geographic Information System
GKhI			Hydrochemical Institute
GlavNIVC 		Main Research and Computation Centre
GosAtomNadzor 		Federal Supervisory Board for Nuclear and Radiation Safety
GosComOboronProm	State Committee for Defence Industry
GosComSanEpidNadzor 	State Committee for Sanitary-Epidemiological Supervision
GosComStat 		State Committee for Statistics
GosComVuz 		State Committee for Higher Education
GosGISCentre 		State Research and Innovation Centre of Geoinformation Systems and Technologies
GosGorTekhNadzor	Federal Supervisory Board for Mining and Industry
GosStandart		Committee for Standardisation, Metrology and Certification
GosStroy		Ministry of Civil Construction and Architecture
GosTekhKomissiya	State Technical Commission
GPNTB			State Public Library on Research and Engineering
GRID			Global Resource Information Database
GVC			Main Computation Centre
HEM			Harmonisation of Environmental Measurement
IASC 			International Arctic Science Committee
ICSU			International Council of Scientific Unions
IEC 			Inter-State Ecological Council
IEVB			Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin
IGCE 			Institute of Global Climate and Ecology
ILO 			International Labour Organisation
IUCN 			International Union for Conservation of Nature
MARC			Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre
MBI 			International Bank of Ideas
MBIT			International Bureau for Information and Telecommunications
MChS			Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Response
MinAtom		Ministry of Nuclear Energy
MinEkonomiki 		Ministry of Economy
MinFin 			Ministry of Finances
MinKultury 		Ministry of Culture
MinNauki 		Ministry of Science and Technical Policy
MinOborony		Ministry of Defence
MinObrazovaniya	Ministry of Education
MinPrirody 		Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources
MinSelKhozProd		Ministry of Agriculture and Food Production
MinTopEnergo 		Ministry of Fuel and Energy
MinZdravMedProm 	Ministry of Public Health and Medical Industry
MVD 			Ministry of Internal Affairs
NASA 			National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NGO			Non-Governmental Organisation
NIC			Research Centre
NII 			Research Institute
NII InformLes		Research Institute for Forestry Information
NPO 			Research and Production Enterprise
NPP 			Research and Production Enterprise
NTC 			Research and Technology Centre
NTCIT			Research Centre for Information Technologies
OECD 			Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
PKO 			Map-Production Enterprise
RAS			Russian Academy of Science
REFIA			Russian Environmental Federal Information Agency
RF 			Russian Federation
RGB 			Russian State Library
RKA			Russian Space Agency
RosAPO				Agency for Legal Protection of Programs, Databases and Microcircuit Topologies
RosArkhiv 		State Archive Service
RosComInform 		Presidential Committee for Informatisation Policy
RosComNedra 		Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources
RosComRybolovstvo	Committee for Fisheries
RosComVod 		Committee for Water Resources
RosComZem		Committee for Land Resources and Management
RosGeoInform 		Russian Research and Production Centre of Geoinformation
RosHydroMet 		Federal Agency for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring
RosIMZ 			Russian Institute of Land and Ecosystem Monitoring
RosKartografiya	Federal Agency for Geodesy and Cartography
RosLesKhoz 		Federal Agency for Forestry
RosNII IS		Russian Research Centre for Information Systems
RosPatent		Committee for Patents and Trademarks
RSFSR 			Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic
TPP			Chamber of Commerce and Industry
UN			United Nations
UNCED			United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNDP 			United Nations Development Programme
UNEP			United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO				United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
USGS 			United States Geological Survey
USSEM 			Unified State System of Environmental Monitoring
USSR 			Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VAK 			Higher Attestation Commission
VGBIL 			V.I. Lenin All-Union State Library
VINITI				Institute of Information on Science and Engineering
VNICLesResurs 		Research and Information Centre for Forest Resources
VNIC SMV 		Research Centre for Standardisation, Information and Certification of Materials
VNIERKh 		Research Institute of Economics, Information and Decision Support in Fisheries
VNII			All-Russian Research Institute
VNIIGMI-MCD		Research Hydrometeorological Institute - World Data Centre
VNII Priroda		Research Institute of Environmental Conservation
VNIIPVTI 		Research Institute of Computer Technology and Information Problems
VNIRO 			Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography
VNTIC 			Centre of Information on Research and Engineering
VodNIIInformProyekt 	Research Institute for Water Resource Information Systems
VSEGINGEO 		Research Institute of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology
WCMC 			World Conservation Monitoring Centre
WHO			World Health Organisation
WWF 			World-Wide Fund for Nature

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FOREWORD

In 1994, UNEP initiated a program to support environment assessment, reporting and data management capacities in countries with economies in transition in Central and Eastern Europe. This includes identification of needs and the formulation of project proposals to meet these needs. With partner agencies and other donors, UNEP seeks to leverage finances to correct any imbalances. This activity is a part of UNEP's global ENRIN (Environment and Natural Resources Networking) programme, which is a direct follow-up of Agenda 21, chapter 40 on information for decision-making. This chapter underlines that there is a need for easily accessible environmental information at all levels, from that of senior environmental decision-makers to the grass roots. An agreement has been made with the GRID-Arendal centre in Norway for implementation of the ENRIN program in Central and Eastern Europe.

In response to the invitation from UNEP's Regional Director for Europe, Hans Alders, the Russian Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Victor I. Danilov-Danilyan, stated in his letter dated February 23, 1995 of Russia's strong interest in participating in the program, and expressed his support to the idea of programme's importance.

This report is the result of the initial analyses in Russia. It is intended to distil and present promising avenues of co-operation, stimulate discussion and promote international consensus on the way ahead. It also seeks to attract other partners to this important venture of ensuring true international co-operation in stimulating co-operative action on issues affecting our shared resources.

Assistant Executive Director Harvey Croze; UNEP; Nairobi, 31 August 1995

Director Svein Tveitdal, GRID-Arendal; Arendal, 31 August 1995


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report has been compiled at GRID-Arendal under UNEP's ENRIN programme. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those persons responsible for contributions to this publication, in particular:

For writing the report, Nickolai B. Denisov of the Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Geography, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (currently with UNEP/ GRID-Arendal).

For co-ordinating the publication and maintaining communication between the authors, the editors, the layout persons and others, Dawn Freund of GRID-Arendal. For making the publication fully UNEP-compatible and providing us with practical input, Danielle Mitchell of UNEP/DEA Nairobi.

The report was edited by Marina Denisova of Moscow and Solfrid Tjørhom of Arendal; Per Harald Stabell of Litangen & Kuvaas in Arendal was responsible for cover design; the front cover map and the insert administrative map of Russia were designed by Philippe Rekacewicz of Le Monde Diplomatique in Paris.

Constructive advice and practical support was provided by various individuals within the UNEP system, namely ENRIN co-ordinator Dan Claasen of UNEP/DEA in Nairobi, Andrea Matte-Baker of UNEP/ROE in Geneva and GRID-Arendal Director Svein Tveitdal.

Otto Simonett, Programme Manager, Eastern European and Developing Countries; Arendal, 9 September 1995


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