Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
1 March 1996
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fourth session
18 April-3 May 1996

                        INFORMATION FOR DECISION-MAKING

                        Report of the Secretary-General

                                   CONTENTS

                                                              Paragraphs Page

  I.  MAIN POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................    1 - 3       2

 II.  BACKGROUND ...........................................    4 - 6       2

III.  REVIEW OF PROGRESS ACHIEVED, MAIN POLICY ISSUES AND
      EXPERIENCES ..........................................    7 - 34      3

      A. Establishment of coherent information programmes
         at the national level ............................     7 - 21      3

         1.   Progress report on the programme of work for
              indicators of sustainable development ........   12 - 17      4

         2.   Interim report on development watch ..........   18 - 21      5

      B. Strengthening of the United Nations system-wide
         Earthwatch .......................................    22 - 25      6

      C. Measures for establishing a common or compatible
         system of access to the respective databases of
         United Nations system organizations ..............    26 - 31      7

      D. Other efforts to coordinate and harmonize the
         provision of information to decision makers ......    32 - 33      8

      E. Means of implementation ..........................     34          9

 IV.  MAIN TRENDS FOR THE FUTURE ...........................   35 - 38      9


                        I.  MAIN POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS


1.   Governments are invited, on a voluntary basis, to take the primary
responsibility for the further testing, development and use of indicators of
sustainable development, based on the work done to date on identifying the
indicators and preparing the corresponding methodology sheets (see
paras. 12-17).

2.   In undertaking the pilot testing phase, Governments may wish to consider
the advantages of working in partnership with other countries in testing and
further developing the indicators of sustainable development.  For example,
linking two countries with different levels of experience with indicators
could prove beneficial to both.

3.   The Commission on Sustainable Development may welcome follow-up to its
decision at its third session on common and compatible systems of access to
data, including the further work on establishing common access to United
Nations system databases by setting up a sustainable development home page on
the World Wide Web, with hot links to the value-added databases to be
identified by the Agenda 21 task managers (see paras. 26-33 below).


                                II.  BACKGROUND

4.   Chapter 40 of Agenda 21 (Information for decision-making) is concerned
with improving the content, format and accessibility of information for
decision makers at all levels, from national and international levels to
grass-roots and individual levels.  This, in turn, requires a continuing
emphasis on developing the capabilities to collect, analyse, apply and
disseminate data at national and local levels. 

5.   Scientific, technological, economic, social and cultural information all
play an important part in implementing the principles of Agenda 21.  The
management and use of such information require specialized infrastructures,
skills and know-how.  Preparing, organizing and delivering information to
decision makers on environmental and developmental concerns in a way that can
generate their political commitment to respond to such concerns is of
paramount importance.

6.   Most United Nations Member States, in particular developing countries,
need to achieve an integrated development of their information
infrastructures.  The response to the growing awareness of the crucial
importance of information in the development process is encouraged or
discouraged by additional needs for bridging the data gap and improving access
to information.  In the case of developing countries, the trend of acquiring
and using information has been reflected by a more systematic and intensive
call for international collaboration and assistance.  The international
community, including the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system
is expected to respond to demands of this nature.


               III.  REVIEW OF PROGRESS ACHIEVED, MAIN POLICY ISSUES
                     AND EXPERIENCES

               A.  Establishment of coherent information programmes
                   at the national level

7.   Developed countries generally have well-established infrastructures for
information, including organization, electronic hardware and software, and
telecommunications.  Perhaps for these reasons, only about half of the
countries that responded have developed an information policy for collecting
and accessing data related to sustainable development.  In contrast,
respondents from developing countries all noted that they have created or are
in the process of creating such policies at the national level, indicating
that such countries are well aware of the importance of information for
informed and participatory decision-making, and also illustrating the need for
countries to build a capacity to collect, organize, analyse and make
accessible relevant information.  Development Watch (see paras. 18-21 below)
is intended to provide support for such capacity-building.  The other
activities covered in the present report - indicators of sustainable
development, Earthwatch, common access and core data sets - are also designed
to strengthen efforts at the national level.

8.   Most of the necessary data are available in developed countries.  Based
on responding countries, the weakest data areas among developed and developing
countries, as well as countries whose economies are in transition, are related
to changing consumption patterns, integrated decision-making, and technology
cooperation and transfer.  Excluding developed countries, other particularly
weak areas are related to major groups and hazardous waste, solid waste and
radioactive waste.  A more detailed breakdown of data strengths and weaknesses
in the context of Agenda 21 is contained in an addendum to the present report
(see E/CN.17/1996/18/Add.1, paras. 5-7).

9.   Nowhere is progress with respect to chapter 40 more evident than in the
development of indicators of sustainable development.  Prior to the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), only a handful of
countries had initiated any work in this area.  The situation today is
markedly different.  At least 13 developed and 13 developing countries have
programmes under way in various stages of maturity to develop such indicators
as a means of organizing information at the national level for
decision-making.  A few countries with economies in transition have indicated
an interest in beginning such programmes as well.  Furthermore, most of these
countries are linking their efforts to the work being undertaken under the
auspices of the Commission to develop a framework and a common list of
indicators from which countries may choose consistent with their needs, and
some countries have already stated their interest in testing the indicators as
well.

10.  Major efforts being undertaken at the international level to coordinate
information in support of the needs of national decision makers are reviewed
below.  Sources of information are highly decentralized, but the increasing
move towards electronic dissemination makes it possible to link such sources
in a manner that promotes universal access, hence the emphasis on coordination
and international action.  The results described below were based on
information solicited from a number of sources.  In addition, a total of eight
meetings were organized.  Four meetings - one organized by the Department for
Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations
Secretariat, one organized by the World Bank, one organized by the Ministry of
the Environment of the Government of Germany, Nature Conservation and Nuclear
Safety, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Commission,
the Wuppertal Institute and the Scientific Committee on Problems of the
Environment (SCOPE), and one organized by the Environment Agency of the
Government of Japan - furthered the work programme on indicators of
sustainable development.  The other four meetings addressed in turn
Development Watch, Earthwatch, common access to United Nations system
databases and common core data sets, and were organized jointly by the
Department, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNEP in a
series of meetings that were held back-to-back in order to make the most
effective and efficient use of the time and expense involved in bringing the
appropriate experts to the meetings, as well as to link the meetings to each
other in a manner that provided coherence throughout.

11.  The United Nations acts primarily as a coordinator.  In addition to
contributions from Governments and other intergovernmental organizations, a
number of non-governmental organizations at both national and international
levels are directly involved in bringing better information to decision makers
generally and in the design and implementation of Development Watch,
indicators of sustainable development and core data sets in particular.  Since
the request of the Commission with regard to common access was specific to the
United Nations system, no bodies outside the system have yet been involved. 
However, once the initial phase has been completed, it is suggested that other
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations be fully involved in this
exercise.


                 1.  Progress report on the programme of work for
                     indicators of sustainable development 

12.  At its third session, the Commission approved a work programme on
indicators of sustainable development, and called upon the organizations of
the United Nations system, with the support of other intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations and through the coordination of the Department,
to implement, within existing resources, the work programme as contained in
the report of the Secretary-General on information for decision-making and
Earthwatch (E/CN.17/1995/18).  In addition, it requested that a progress
report be provided to it at its fourth session; paragraphs 13 to 17 below
constitute that report.

13.  On 25 and 26 July 1995,  the Second Expert Group Meeting on Indicators of
Sustainable Development, organized by the Department adopted an implementation
plan for the indicators work programme, divided into three phases.  Phase I,
from May 1995 to April 1996, includes two main elements:  the compilation of
two rosters of experts to assist in the implementation of the work programme,
and the development of methodology sheets for each of the indicators for use
by Governments. 

14.  The rosters have been developed and the methodology sheets prepared with
the full cooperation of a large number of organizations (see
E/CN.17/1996/18/Add.1, para. 13).

15.  The Third Annual World Bank Conference on Environmentally Sustainable
Development, (Washington, D.C., 4-6 October 1995) helped in the further
definition of the indicators and their framework.  An international workshop
organized and sponsored by the Environment Agency of the Government of Japan,
held in Glen Cove, New York, in February 1996, brought together experts from
Governments, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, other
intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations to discuss
the methodology sheets and provide suggestions for the further development of
the indicators, as needed.  The report of that workshop will be presented to
the Commission by the Government of Japan.

16.  Once the methodology sheets are completed, under phase II countries will
begin to use the indicators to assist their own decision-making processes.  At
the Glen Cove meeting, experts from Bolivia, Brazil, China, Costa Rica,
Germany and Morocco indicated their interest in gaining experience by
participating in the application of indicators at the country level.  Through
Development Watch (see paras. 18-21 below), it is anticipated that up to five
additional countries will also participate in the pilot phase of the
indicators programme.

17.  A longer-term project that requires immediate concerted effort is work on
both the aggregation of indicators and the identification of linkages among
economic, social, environmental and institutional indicators.  A scientific
workshop on indicators of sustainable development (Wuppertal, Germany,
15-17 November 1995; see para. 10 above for organizers) continued the SCOPE
process of looking into these questions which will be dealt with under
Phase III of the implementation plan.


                    2.  Interim report on development watch

18.  At its third session, the Commission requested UNDP, in cooperation with
other relevant organizations, to further define Development Watch and to
submit to it at its fifth session a progress report on the implementation of
the programme of work of Development Watch, taking into account the need for a
close linkage between Development Watch and Earthwatch. 1/  Paragraphs 19-21
below constitute an interim report for the information of the Commission.

19.  On 15 and 16 January 1996, UNDP in cooperation with the Department and
UNEP organized an inter-agency meeting to respond to the Commission's request.

It was agreed that Development Watch is a process for raising awareness at the
national level by supporting a more systematic and active approach to data
collection and analysis for national policy and operational decisions on
sustainable development.  Development Watch is intended to assist in national
capacity-building for this purpose, and should also provide an opportunity to
promote, test and evaluate the use of indicators for formulating and modifying
national policies on sustainable development, based on national priorities.  

20.  Development Watch is tentatively scheduled to be launched, with
assistance from UNDP and collaborating partners, through pilot projects in the
following eight countries:  Bolivia, Botswana, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Morocco,
Tunisia, South Africa and Ukraine.  Among other activities, Development Watch
will promote networking among national counterparts in each of the eight
countries to facilitate mutual support and collaboration in local activities. 
Feedback from the pilot projects will assist in the refinement of the
indicators being developed under the auspices of the Commission.  Every effort
has been made to coordinate this programme with that of Earthwatch and other
relevant information programmes already under way.

21.  As requested, a progress report will be submitted to the Commission at
its fourth session.


        B.  Strengthening of the United Nations system-wide Earthwatch

22.  Despite the general reduction in resources available throughout the
United Nations system, significant progress is being achieved in adopting new
information technologies so that information collected by all the partners in
Earthwatch may be made more widely available.  A description of the
information sources and activities of all pertinent parts of the United
Nations system is already available at the United Nations system-wide
Earthwatch home page on the World Wide Web (see E/CN.17/1996/18/Add.1,
annex II for a list of Earthwatch and other relevant Web addresses), and plans
are being developed for systems to help all users find the information that
they require, regardless of where it may be held in the United Nations system.

Alternative forms of access to such information for those who do not yet have
electronic capabilities are also being maintained.  With the agreement in
January on common principles and design criteria for information systems and
Internet access, including expanded and inter-linked use of the World Wide
Web, the United Nations system is ready for the rapid expansion of a coherent
network of information sources appropriate to the needs of decision makers.

23.  In January 1996, the third inter-agency Earthwatch Working Party agreed
on a number of steps to improve collaboration and joint programming throughout
the United Nations system.  In particular, with their increasing
responsibilities for collecting information and reports from the contracting
parties, the environmental convention secretariats are being integrated into
the system-wide Earthwatch coordination mechanism so as to avoid duplication
and ensure the effective use of available information.  The problem of how to
ensure a more coherent collection of information on the production, management
and disposal of wastes was identified as a gap in United Nations system
coverage that requires attention.  In addition to developing  new forms of
electronic access, cooperating agencies will continue to explore ways of
improving the delivery to decision makers of key data and environmental
findings from Earthwatch.  The adequacy and effectiveness of long-term early-
warning mechanisms for environmental change will also be reviewed to
complement the report of the Secretary-General on early-warning capacities of
the United Nations system with regard to natural disasters (A/50/526).  One
major change that is occurring, driven by the need to improve information for
decision makers, is a shift away from traditional state-of-the-environment
reporting that focuses on the past and present environment, towards a more
forward-looking style of reporting that includes modelling projections and
scenarios, which should be more effective in guiding policy-making on
environment and sustainability.  

24.  The report of the scientific and technical planning group for the Global
Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS), has been completed, and in January its
co-sponsors (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), UNEP, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)) accepted the report in principle, so
that with the decision by FAO to host the GTOS support office, the framework
for the planned set of global observing systems for land, sea (Global Ocean
Observing System (GOOS)) and climate (Global Climate Observing System (GCOS))
is now in place.  Close collaboration has been established among the three
systems and with other operational observing activities, such as the World
Weather Watch and Global Atmosphere Watch of WMO.  The co-sponsors are now
planning a consultative mechanism for global observations to ensure that close
cooperation and a common broad strategy are maintained among all the global
observing systems and their applications.  All countries are urged to consider
how they can participate in these collaborative programmes of global
observations, with their significant benefits at the national level:  the best
information systems for decision- making that may be developed in response to
chapter 40 will be ineffective if they lack the basic time series data on the
environment and development that are required to keep up with rapidly changing
conditions.

25.  Work is also continuing on strategies to increase participation in
environmental observations at the local and national levels.  For instance, at
a world summit on religions and conservation held in Windsor, United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in May 1995, the assembled religious
leaders expressed an interest in exploring how the institutions and personnel
of religious organizations around the world could cooperate with Earthwatch
and demonstrate their concern for the damage being done to the environment by
undertaking regular environmental observations in their local areas.  If such
interest can be linked with the efforts of various non-governmental
organizations, and such initiatives as the Global Legislators Organization for
a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) initiative to involve schools in environmental
observations, a growing movement of popular support for observation and data-
collection activities could reinforce and extend governmental and scientific
efforts to document what is happening to the environment.


               C.  Measures for establishing a common or compatible
                   system of access to the respective databases of
                   United Nations system organizations

26.  At its third session, the Commission noted the importance of developing
among the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system a common or
compatible system of access to their respective databases, and invited the
Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD) to refine measures
for establishing such a common or compatible system and to report to it
thereon at its fourth session.

27.  Subsequently, IACSD agreed that there was a need for further action,
bearing in mind the role of the Information Systems Coordination Committee
(ISCC) and the International Computing Centre (ICC), and invited the relevant
task managers - the Department and UNEP - to further develop this request in
consultation with focal points in concerned United Nations system
organizations.

28.  For this purpose, the Department and UNEP, in cooperation with ISCC and
ICC, organized a meeting on common and compatible systems of access to data on
19 January 1996 in New York.  The meeting identified a set of principles for
designing a United Nations information system, as well as principles for
formulating a data-access policy.  The meeting discussed data content, modes
of access and coordination with ISCC and ICC (see E/CN.17/1996/18/Add.1 for
details).

29.  In response to specific requests of the Commission, the meeting
recommended that the World Wide Web locator home page for the United Nations
system being established by ISCC and ICC contain hot links to the proposed
sustainable development home page; that a sustainable development home page be
established on the World Wide Web, with hot links to the value-added databases
identified by Agenda 21 task managers; and that a sustainable development
thesaurus be developed by the end of 1996, using the United Nations
Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS) thesaurus as the starting-point.

30.  The thesaurus should include, inter alia, standardized country codes as a
basis for creating a computerized country directory and database, and
standardized codes for data related to the indicators of sustainable
development as a basis for creating a computerized indicator directory.  Once
the thesaurus has been developed and accepted, standard procedures should be
adopted among all United Nations system organizations for the authors of
relevant value-added documents, reports, publications etc., to index their
material using the thesaurus and increase compatibility among their databases.



31.  At its seventh meeting in February 1996, IACSD discussed and endorsed the
recommendations of the above-mentioned meeting.


            D.  Other efforts to coordinate and harmonize the provision
                of information to decision makers

32.  As one specific step to improve access to databases of United Nations
system organizations, the major providers and users of data for international
assessments and reports on environment and development have recently agreed on
common efforts to make such core data sets more available.  An expert working
group co-sponsored by UNEP and the Department met in January to identify over
50 core data variables for which related data must ultimately be collected or
created, put into standard formats (harmonized) and provided for use by
Governments, organizations and research centres around the world.  The most
significant gaps have also been singled out for further work, so that a series
of actions can be planned and taken in order to provide data.  These data sets
will be coordinated as far as possible with the indicators of sustainable
development that are being prepared under the work programme approved by the
Commission.

33.  Also relevant is the work being done by the Department for Economic and
Social Information and Policy Analysis of the United Nations Secretariat
towards establishing a common data system with the objective of developing a
coordinated and consistent methodological approach to data collection
throughout the United Nations system in response to the rapidly increasing
demands on national Governments to measure the achievement of the various but
often overlapping goals that have emerged from recent major United Nations
conferences.  For example, work is being done on the development of common
approaches for defining how censuses, surveys and sample methodologies can be
extended for monitoring purposes; the promulgation of consistent definitions
and common data-collection instruments and questionnaires; and the
promulgation of statistical standards of collection and reporting, including
the use of scientific statistical methodologies.


                          E.  Means of implementation

34.  The transfer of electronic technology, despite lower levels of financing
in general, is still taking place at a rapid pace in many developing
countries.  None the less, resources are inadequate not only for electronic
technologies but also for infrastructure, telecommunications usage, training
and institution- building, data collection and analysis, and organization. 
There is a need to create national communication nodes, standardize data and
develop monitoring capacities.


                        IV.  MAIN TRENDS FOR THE FUTURE

35.  The main trends in the area of information for decision-making may be
described as an increasing integration of systems; improved access due to
technical developments like the World Wide Web; enhanced technology and
organization, which may increase the information gap; and a preference for
forward-looking information using modelling and projections.  As the
quantities of available information increase rapidly, more attention must be
directed to the quality of such information and the ease with which users can
find the appropriate, accurate and timely information that they require.

36.  There is a growing emphasis on making information useful to decision
makers at all levels; as a result, wider agreement on the use of indicators of
sustainable development and increased interest in the analysis and
interpretation of data are expected.

37.  Coordination, both among the organizations and bodies of the United
Nations system and between the United Nations system and other organizations,
both intergovernmental and non-governmental, will continue and strengthen both
because of functional imperatives and because the relative advantages to each
cooperating partner is likely to reinforce the community of coordination. 
This is especially true in the area of information, in which standardization
and harmonization are essential components of success.

38.  As more and more countries and more and more people gain access to good
information, the gap between such groups and those who are not able to keep
pace will widen dramatically.  It is absolutely essential that every effort be
made at all levels by all those concerned to ensure that no country is left
out of this information revolution.


                                     Notes

     1/    Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1995,
Supplement No. 12 (E/1995/32), para. 6.


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Date last posted: 3 December 1999 10:25:35
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD