Sustainable industrial development

In the industrialized world new methods and theories for environmental assessment and analysis, for example for industrial development planning and siting, are in an expansion phase. They focus on the combined application of Decision-Support Systems (DSS), Expert Systems (ES), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) input and output, increasing enormously the analytical capabilities available today in the field of environmental applied research and pollution prevention.

Within the ICS programme for the year 2011, special attention has been given to the diffusion, integrated use and application of the above instruments and methods. In addition, adapting DSS to local situations will facilitate international cooperation within selected developing countries. This means presenting a common interface and way of tackling problems through networking and technology transfer.

Foreseen activities cover training in new techniques and demonstrations of practical case studies, developed in situ, with the close involvement of local counterparts. In addition, channels will be established for sharing results, knowledge, standards and methodologies, and projects will be developed in close cooperation with national beneficiaries. Apart from acquiring knowledge in computational application techniques for the integration of GIS, DSS, RS and image engineering, programme beneficiaries (local authorities and decision-makers) are made aware of the need to develop shared information resources. To date, cost and inaccessibility have been a major barrier to environmental scientists, planning offices and decision-makers.