Environmental monitoring GIS launched in Russia

FSIS "Ecomonitoring"

Main article: Environmental Monitoring (FSIS)

2024: GIS launch

On March 1, 2024, the official launch of the state information system for monitoring the state of the environment took place in Russia. It will aggregate data on the state of air, water bodies, soils, etc., on the radiation situation, on waste management and the state of permafrost.

According to RIA Novosti with reference to the federal law on the launch of GIS environmental monitoring, it is created with the aim of "providing state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, local governments, organizations and the population with information on the state of the environment (environmental information), the collection, processing and analysis of such information, as well as the assessment of the state of the environment and the prediction of its changes under the influence of natural and/or anthropogenic factors. "

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It is assumed that this system will come from information systems, Roshydromet,, Rosvodresursov, and Rosprirodnadzor Rosleskhoz Rosnedra other sources. The information system operator is selected. Russian Environmental Operator (REO)

As explained earlier in the REO, the federal state information system of the state of the environment will become for citizens and authorities a single source of information that can be obtained in the "one window" mode. Speaking about the importance of such a project, REO Director General Denis Butsaev drew attention to the fact that the totality of environmental information is contained in various formats in a large number of data sources belonging to various authorities, regions and business entities. The new GIS should become the main digital information tool for conducting environmental monitoring in the country, Butsaev emphasized.^[1]

2023

Putin signed a law on the creation of GIS of the state of the environment

Russia Vladimir Putin The President signed a law on the creation of state an information system for the state of the environment "Ecomonitoring." Both citizens and authorities will be able to use it. The Kremlin press service announced this in early August 2023.

The law establishes that this system is created in order to provide state authorities of the Russian Federation, state authorities of the constituent entities of Russia, local governments, organizations and the population with information on the state of the environment (environmental information), as well as collect, process and analyze such information, assess the state of the environment and predict its changes under the influence of natural and (or) anthropogenic factors.

Vladimir Putin

According to the law, the FSIS includes information on the state and pollution of the environment, on the radiation situation, on stationary sources, on the level and (or) volume or mass of emissions, discharges of pollutants, on the management of production and consumption waste and other information.

It is envisaged that the customer of the system is the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, and the operator is the public law company for the formation of an integrated system for the management of municipal solid waste "Russian Environmental Operator."

The procedure for the creation, operation and development of the FSIS, the list of types and composition of the information posted in it, the procedure for accessing this information and other requirements will be established by the Government of the Russian Federation.

As Dmitry Kobylkin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, noted earlier, the creation of a single digital platform will ensure the collection of data from all available and promising sources of information, including 16 types of environmental monitoring - atmospheric air, water bodies, land condition, wildlife, state and reproduction of forests.^[2]

Environmental Monitoring System Deployment Plan on Gostech Platform

The creation of a state environmental monitoring system was discussed at a joint meeting of the State Duma committees on ecology, natural resources and environmental protection and on information policy, information technology and communications. Information about this was published on January 18, 2023 on the official website of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia.

During the meeting, the deputies considered the draft federal law No. 247198-8 ("On Amendments to the Federal Law" On Environmental Protection "and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation"), which was prepared in order to create a comprehensive information system for monitoring the state of the environment in the Russian Federation.

The adoption of the bill was aimed, among other things, at achieving the goal of the state program of the Russian Federation "Environmental Protection," approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 15, 2014 No. 326, which consists in covering 250 cities of Russia by 2024 with an integrated environmental monitoring system. This is stated in the explanatory note to the document.

The system is created for comprehensive and timely informing of state authorities, local governments, organizations and the population about the state of the environment. The bill defines the public law company for the formation of a comprehensive system for the management of municipal solid waste "Russian Environmental Operator" as the system operator.

The environmental monitoring GIS will collect information on the state of the environment by analyzing and structuring data, including systems for automatic control of emissions of enterprises and environmental monitoring networks. The system will aggregate the results of state monitoring of atmospheric air, water bodies, land, wildlife, radiation situation, forest reproduction and other types of state environmental monitoring. In addition, the system will contain information about the sources of negative environmental impact.

"The creation of a single digital platform will ensure the collection of data from all sources on 15 existing and one promising subsystem of environmental monitoring. It will improve the quality of data, quickly receive information about the sources of pollution, identify and record violations. Move from manual collection and processing of unstructured data to environmental quality management and forecasting of its changes, "said Konstantin Tsyganov, First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia.

According to Dmitry Kobylkin, chairman of the committee on ecology, natural resources and environmental protection, the bill provides for the integration of a large number of information systems. According to the committee, this should not be a general database, but a serious analytical system that allows you to assess the level of pollution and issue forecasts.

The meeting also said that the system will be deployed on, Gostech platform using all the services and capabilities of the platform. In one window, users will be able to receive information from all eco-monitoring subsystems, in addition, the selection can be made in a territorial context. Ministry of Digital Development Russia already working out with the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia the possibility of using ready-made components of the Gostech system.

During the meeting, they discussed integration into the eco-monitoring system and other state information systems. For example, the system may receive reports from regulated organizations (enterprises) on greenhouse gas emissions from the Federal State Institution "Energy Efficiency," which, as of January 2023, is being modernized by the Ministry of Economic Development. Also in the system it will be possible to track the absorption of gases. The head of Roshydromet Igor Shumakov said that most of this data is obtained on the basis of the observation system of Roshydromet, and this also ensures the reliability of the data.

FGIS "Ecomonitoring" shall receive information on waste accounting. The meeting discussed the creation, operation of a MSW accounting system, as well as integration with a product accounting system from the use of goods. As of January 2023, it is being developed by the Russian Environmental Operator PPK.

According to the deputies, it is also important to prescribe in the bill one of the goals of creating a system to prevent possible negative changes. The proposals of the deputies will be taken into account for the second reading.^[3]

The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia reported on the development of the bill on December 5, 2022. The document was agreed with all departments and supported by the Government of Russia. As of January 19, 2023, the date of consideration of the draft law in the first reading has not yet been determined.^[4]

Within four months after the adoption of the bill, the Government of the Russian Federation must approve: the procedure for the creation, operation and development of the information system; list of types, composition of information placed in it; procedure, conditions, terms and frequency of its placement; the procedure for access and exchange of such information; list of information providers.^[5]

As noted in the explanatory note to the bill, the adoption of this document will require additional federal budget costs.

2021

Participation of Norilsk Nickel in the creation of GIS

On October 21, 2021, Norilsk Nickel announced the conclusion of an agreement with the Russian Environmental Operator (REO) on the introduction of an online air quality control system. This initiative has become part of the national project "Ecology" and will be extended to the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Read more here.

Project for the creation of GIS eco-monitoring for 3 billion rubles

In April 2021, representatives of public councils under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Roshydromet presented to the Public Chamber a project to create an integrated platform for environmental monitoring in Russia. The volume of investments in this state information system (GIS) is estimated at about 3.13 billion rubles.

These funds, as the first deputy chairman of the public council under the Ministry of Natural Resources Alexander Zakondyrin explained to Izvestia, are needed only for the development of an IT platform for collecting data on the environmental situation.

In Russia, a GIS of eco-monitoring is being created, the project is estimated at 3 billion rubles

According to the representative of Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko, the work of the system and mechanisms for obtaining objective information are spelled out in the concept approved by the Government of the Russian Federation for creating a comprehensive environmental monitoring system. It provides, among other things, the creation of a network for collecting data on discharges and emissions of pollutants, as well as the formation of a system for processing, analyzing and using data on the state of the environment, he said.

The materials of the Russian Environmental Operator (REO), referred to by the newspaper, say that the new system will collect information about the state of the environment by combining data from several existing monitoring and automatic control systems installed at enterprises. By 2023, the project will allow monitoring indicators in 30% of the country's territory, by 2024 - 60%, by 2030 - 100%. The launch of the platform should take place by 2024.

The basis of the integrated monitoring system should be the state monitoring network of Roshydromet, but it alone will not be enough, and it will be necessary to increase the production of monitoring devices, added the co-author of the report, a member of the public council under Roshydromet Zoya Shargatova.^[6]

2020: Plan for an integrated environmental monitoring system

A comprehensive information system for monitoring the state of the environment in the country will be created in Russia, follows from the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin given to the government on January 24, 2020. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, the system should effectively complement, but not duplicate, the existing environmental monitoring mechanisms.

According to the president's instructions, the concept of creating this system must be developed and approved by June 1, 2020. Mikhail Mishustin has been appointed responsible for the execution of this order. Earlier, in his message to the Federal Assembly, the head of state drew attention to the need to work out and implement an air quality monitoring system in the country.

In the future, extend such control to the whole country. And not only for the state of the air, but also for water and soil, that is, to form a full-fledged environmental monitoring system, Vladimir Putin said[7].

The TAdviser Ministry of Natural Resources explained that, since the concept of a comprehensive information system for monitoring the state of the environment in Russia is not normatively fixed, it is not entirely correct to draw a parallel in this case with state environmental monitoring, which the Ministry of Natural Resources is engaged in. At the same time, the federal service for hydrometeorology and environmental monitoring (Roshydromet), as noted in the Ministry of Natural Resources, already has a system for monitoring the state and pollution of the environment.

The comprehensive information system for monitoring the state of the environment should effectively complement, but not duplicate its existing mechanisms, the Ministry of Natural Resources told TAdviser. (photo - cdn.tvc.ru)

This system, as explained in the ministry, is based on a network of monitoring observation points that are installed in cities, on water bodies and streams both in areas with increased anthropogenic impact and in unpolluted areas. The system is designed to solve the following tasks:

• observations of the level of pollution of the atmosphere, soils, waters and bottom sediments of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and seas by physical, chemical and hydrobiological (for water bodies) indicators;

• providing public administration bodies, organizations and the population with systematic and emergency information on changes in the levels of pollution of atmospheric air, soils, water bodies under the influence of economic activities and hydrometeorological conditions, as well as forecasts and warnings about possible changes in pollution levels;

• providing interested organizations with materials for making recommendations in the field of environmental protection and rational use of natural resources, drawing up plans for the development of the economy and other issues of economic development.

The ministry does not yet have information on how this system will relate to the one mentioned in the presidential order.

In any case, when preparing the concept of the integrated system, the experience of creating and operating a subsystem for monitoring the state and pollution of the environment should be analyzed and taken into account, the Ministry of Natural Resources noted.

Similar systems specified in the instructions of the president, as noted in the ministry, serve as tools for information and analytical support in making decisions and developing measures to achieve the goals set by the head of state in the field of a favorable environment. In general, the system that appears in the instructions of the president, according to the ministry, should contribute to the achievement of the main goal of environmental monitoring - ensuring environmental protection, informing the population about its state.

TAdviser did not provide any specifics regarding the amount of funding and the timing of the creation of this system.

Since both parameters obviously depend on the requirements for observations, equipment, processing and presentation of the received information, it is difficult to give an unambiguous answer. The issue of deadlines will be worked out at the stage of concept formation, as for the amount of funds - the final figures will appear at the stages of preparation of the technical design of the system, - informed TAdviser in the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The ministry, as of January 30, 2020, is responsible for the following GIS:

• a system for providing operational information to the management of the Ministry of Natural Resources to support the adoption of management decisions in established areas of activity on the basis of the situation center of the ministry;

• system of public control in the field of environmental protection and environmental management;

• the official website of the ministry.

Another number of GIS related to the environment is under the jurisdiction of the subordinate institutions of the Ministry of Natural Resources - Roshydromet, Rosprirodnadzor, Rosvodresursov, Rosleshoz and Rosnedr.

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