Linking Environmental Monitoring with Compliance and Enforcement Expert Meeting
IISD and the Institute for Resources and Environmental Policy Studies Development Research Center of the State Council of China were pleased to co-host a meeting of Chinese and international experts on the theme of big data and environmental protection.
Today in Beijing, IISD and the Institute for Resources and Environmental Policy Studies Development Research Center of the State Council of China (DRC) were pleased to co-host a meeting of Chinese and international experts on the theme of big data and environmental protection.
In May 2017, the Belt and Road Forum pointed to the importance of big data for ecological protection. Today’s meeting explored the quickly changing role of big data to improve national environmental monitoring systems and to focus compliance and enforcement efforts in areas of highest risk. China’s current Five-Year Plan commits to an ambitious agenda of establishing national environmental monitoring systems for air, water, soil, forestry and other areas; highlights of that plan were discussed, with a background paper prepared by the DRC and IISD.
In addition to the Vice Minister of the DRC and the Canadian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, participants included experts from the DRC, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Water, as well as representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Finnish Environmental Institute, the Washington-based Environmental Law institute and Global Forest Watch.
Scott Vaughan, IISD President-CEO; Dr. Yiming Wang, Vice Minister of DRC, Party Member of DRC; The Honourable John McCallum, Ambassador of Canada to People’s Republic of China
Scott Vaughan, IISD President-CEO; Dr. Yiming Wang, Vice Minister of DRC, Party Member of DRC; The Honourable John McCallum, Ambassador of Canada to People’s Republic of China
Experts from China and around the world discuss rapid changes in environmental monitoring; a push to national networks for air, water, soil, forestry and other networks; and argue that monitoring is the foundation of ecological protection.
Dr. Haiqin Wang, Associate Research Fellow, Institute for Resources and Environmental Policy Studies of DRC explains challenges in linking various streams of environmental data.
Steve Wolfson, U.S. EPA General Counsel Office, Washington, DC explains US federal approach to legal frameworks for monitoring.
Charles Di Leva, former Chief Counsel, World Bank, visiting scholar, Environmental Law Institute Washington, DC explains the importance of international standards for monitoring.
Dr. Wynet Smith, Executive Director, Forest Watch Canada explains the TIMBY (This is my backyard) app, used to monitor forest protection
