Digital Reach

speaking African countries of Benin, Burkina-Faso, Cameroon, Mali,

Morocco and Senegal. The data is made available to local decision

makers.

These Local Urban Observatories (LUOs) are essential

for monitoring implementation of the Millennium Development

Goals at the local level, a key area of focus for UN-HABITAT.

ICT is pivotal for implementation of Agenda 21, the Rio pledge

by world leaders on sustainable development, at both national

and local levels. Public involvement in resolving environmental

problems is key to the improvement of urban environmental

conditions. The Aarhus Declaration of 1998 was the first of its

kind to emphasize environmental rights of the public. With

adequate access to environmental information, with a full under-

standing through the availability of data, the public is more likely

to support sustainable development and Agenda 21. UN-

HABITAT is a key partner in the Cities Environment Reports on

the Internet programme,

which works within the framework of

Local Agenda 21 to collate environmental information for sound

decision-making and general awareness-raising in cities.

As well as advocating the use of online environmental data for

public use within the framework of its Sustainable Cities

Programme, UN-HABITAT has been actively involved in improv-

ing the capacity of local authorities tomanage their environmental

resources. One of the first cities where the Environmental

Management Information System (EMIS) was implemented in

1997 was Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. It is a tool for collecting,

organizing and applying information relevant to urban develop-

ment and the environment. UN-HABITAT provided equipment,

software and spatial data to the city and followed up with capac-

ity-building initiatives. This allowed Dar es Salaam to develop

up-to-date maps so that it can create a strategic urban environ-

mental management plan.

For EMIS to succeed, municipalities have to be committed to

staff training, keeping information systems up to date and

providing information to the public. UN-HABITAT has

produced a large number of tools to support EMIS as part of the

Environment Planning and Management Process. EMIS is now

in use in more than 20 cities in the developing world. To date,

cities such as Accra, Chennai, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan, Ismailia,

Shenyang, Wuhan, and Zanzibar have developed locally rele-

vant mapping standards and GIS software. Besides addressing

environmental hazards such as air and river pollution, EMIS

has also contributed to improving the management of the city’s

cadastre as in Lusaka, Zambia, or better urban transport, as in

Bayamo, Cuba.

The challenge for many developing counties to become part of

the Information Society is to commit themselves to develop their

human potential and knowledge assets at every level as this is an

essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Better connectivity creates ideal conditions for overcoming

developmental hurdles and reducing poverty. New ICT develop-

ments such as wireless Internet technology hold promise for the

cities of the developing world, as research from the Wireless

Internet Institute (W2i) and the United Nations ICT Task Force

recently demonstrated. A new publication series entitled

Global

Municipal Government and Local Authorities

aims to raise aware-

ness about opportunities for local governments to build

high-capacity wireless communications infrastructures in support

of municipal economic, social and educational development.

Unless ICT development remains sensitive to the human and

cultural values of the communities it serves, the world will see

the emergence of a new digital divide in an even more complex

cyber-sphere.

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This map of Bayamo in Cuba is an example of how EMIS is used to highlight urban features, such as the dark areas showing low-income

neighbourhoods not served by public transport

Photo:UN HABITAT