Reporting on the state of the environment

In addition to the national requirements for reporting such as the Vision 2020 and the EDPRS, REMA is also required by Law No. 16/2006 - the law establishing REMA - to report on the state of the environment (SOE) every two years. This is a huge undertaking and if legitimacy and relevance of the publication is to be maintained, it is essential that REMA provides leadership to the process that ensures adequate data collection, analysis, management and dissemination. The current trend with SOE reporting is to adopt an inte- grated assessment and reporting approach. This approach requires bringing together information and analysis that is usually spread across a variety of disciplines and organiza- tions. In order to meet these expectations the requirement for high quality data and information support is paramount. In addition, there is a growing trend towards participatory and evidence-based policy making in the environmental sector, all of which call for a sound data and information foundation.

The need for a system to manage environmental information

While decisions are informed by available statistical data, the quality of this data vary greatly. At times the data is frag- mented or of uncertain quality and thus does not lend itself to trend analysis or cross-referencing with other sources of information (Ndayitabi 2009). The EDPRS recognises that quality control over information collected by line ministries is often the weakest link in the data chain (GOR 2007). Data is collected at the community, district and national levels as a result of the activities of institutions. However these activities remain largely sectoral and therefore provide basic data rather than the integrated format which is required for environmental management.

The entire process of environmental information man- agement needs to be systematised and formalised. Proper mechanisms to support the exchange of data are equally im- portant. These tasks do not only require internal capacity in human resources and equipment for environmental infor-

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