Publishing Environmental Information (UA0078)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Ukraine Action Plan 2018-2020
Action Plan Cycle: 2018
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Other bodies responsible for environment monitoring
Support Institution(s): Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Government-Civic Initiative “Together against Corruption,” Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, European Environment Agency (SEIS in Ukraine), other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent)
Policy Areas
E-Government, Environment and Climate, Legislation & Regulation, Public Service DeliveryIRM Review
IRM Report: Ukraine Design Report 2018-2020
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Technology
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
Providing free access of citizens – through modern ICTs – to environmental information received by public authorities in the field of environment protection, rational use, reproduction and protection of natural resources Ensuring environmental rights of citizens in terms of free access to the information on environmental status, risks for life and health, environmental perspectives is currently complicated by a number of problems: • Lack of the national digital geoinformation infrastructure of public authorities and local self-government bodies to support them in implementation of their authorities on environment protection, rational use, reproduction and protection of natural resources; • Lack of a unified centre to accumulate information on environmental status; • Unclear division of authority, poor coordination of activities and suboptimal institutional capacity of public authorities and local self-government bodies to gather, accumulate and exchange information/data on environmental status; • A lot of autonomous and non-unified – in terms of structure – registers and databases, non-systematized information on environmental status on hard copies that should be digitized and published in open data format. Actions Responsible Timeframe Partners Indicator 1. Establishing legal framework for ensuring citizens’ access to environment information in line with European norms and requirements Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Other bodies responsible for environment monitoring December 2018 – May 2020 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Government-Civic Initiative “Together against Corruption,” Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, European Environment Agency (SEIS in Ukraine), other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) Action Plan on implementation of Concept Note on establishing the National Automated System “Open Environment” adopted; Procedure for Operation and Administration of National Automated System “Open Environment” and Action Plan of information policy and strategic communications on Open Environment System approved 2. Developing and implementing the components of Open Environment System as a Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Other public authorities and local self-government December 2018 – December 2019 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Government-Civic Initiative “Together against Corruption,” ToRs developed and approved, pilot projects and components of Open Environment System as a whole implemented 16 whole bodies (upon their consent) Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, European Environment Agency (SEIS in Ukraine), other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) 3. Upgrading/reforming the national system of environment monitoring, in particular, of radiation monitoring Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management Other public authorities December 2018 – December 2020 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Government-Civic Initiative “Together against Corruption,” Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, European Environment Agency (SEIS in Ukraine), other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) A tool for GPS-environment monitoring, in particular, of radiation monitoring, is developed, piloted and launched; the structure of sub-system of radiation monitoring formed; software developed; technical capacity for its operation built; ecosystem project piloted, launched and integration into Open Environment System Expected results are ensuring environmental rights of citizens in terms of free digital access to information on environmental status, risks for life and health, environmental perspectives; updating and digitizing national environment administration system, and thus, improving the quality of administrative service provision by digitizing them; creating conditions to increase participation of citizens, CSOs and economic entities in decision-making in the field of environment protection; launching new methods and technologies of environment monitoring, in particular, of radiation monitoring, and providing public access to monitoring data.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
9. Provide public access to environmental information
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [78] Providing free access of citizens – through modern ICTs – to environmental information received by public authorities in the field of environment protection, rational use, reproduction and protection of natural resources
Ensuring environmental rights of citizens in terms of free access to the information on environmental status, risks for life and health, environmental perspectives is currently complicated by a number of problems:
- Lack of the national digital geoinformation infrastructure of public authorities and local self-government bodies to support them in implementation of their authorities on environment protection, rational use, reproduction and protection of natural resources;
- Lack of a unified centre to accumulate information on environmental status;
- Unclear division of authority, poor coordination of activities and suboptimal institutional capacity of public authorities and local self-government bodies to gather, accumulate and exchange information/data on environmental status;
- A lot of autonomous and non-unified – in terms of structure – registers and databases, non-systematized information on environmental status on hard copies that should be digitized and published in open data format.
Milestones:
- Establishing legal framework for ensuring citizens’ access to environment information in line with European norms and requirements
- Developing and implementing the components of Open Environment System as a whole
- Upgrading/reforming the national system of environment monitoring, in particular, of radiation monitoring
Start Date: December 2018
End Date: December 2020
Context and objectives
There are multiple problems that inhibit Ukrainians’ constitutional right to freely access information on environmental status, risks for life, and health. Essential ecological information is either closed or available for a fee. [79] An ecological activist with Open Society Foundation Ukraine estimated that government ecological policies receive only 9% of necessary funding, [80] and there is no system to instantly collect ecological information in real time, causing delays of up to two years.
This commitment seeks to establish a legal framework for ensuring citizens’ access to environmental information, and introduce the nationwide automated Open Environment System. It also seeks to upgrade the national system of environment monitoring. It continues from Commitment 10 from the third action plan, which aimed to improve public monitoring of the state of the environment via the Open Environment System. [81] While some tangible results were achieved during the third aciton plan period, including the developemnt of an interactive map of river pollution, [82] the Open Enviroment System was not fully developed by the writing of the IRM End-of-Term Report. [83] This commitment is also connected to Commitment 10 of the current action plan, which calls for updating the state registers of natural resources.
Given several indicators for measuring the success of each activity, this commitment is verifiable. By disclosing a large amount of ecological data in digital form, this commitment relates to the OGP values of access to information and technology and innovation.
The government foresees multiple outcomes from this commitment, [84] including ensuring environmental rights and increasing participation in decision-making around environmental protection. A consulted civil society representative further emphasized that such system will inform citizens when choosing where to live, [85] and provide official environmental information that could be used for changing local policies or in courts to make authorities implement national environmental policies. Considering this, the commitment could singificantly improve access to environmental information. However, it is unclear from the commitment text what type of enviromental information will be disclosed in the Open Enviroment System.
Next steps
During the implementation of this commitment, the IRM researcher recommends that the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) collaborate closely with civil society partners including leading international NGOs that focus on environment. The IRM researcher also recommends the MENR to review its funding policies to ensure sustainability of the Open Environment System.
This commitment could be continued in the next action plan and include environmental monitoring of other pollution beyond the planned radiation monitoring.
Commitments
-
Expand budget transparency system
UA0087, 2020, Anti-Corruption
-
Transparency of public assets
UA0088, 2020, Access to Information
-
Create general education distance learning system
UA0089, 2020, E-Government
-
Open Science
UA0090, 2020, Access to Information
-
Online platform for patents and innovation
UA0091, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Audit of beneficial ownership register
UA0092, 2020, Anti-Corruption
-
Expand uses for e-democracy platform
UA0093, 2020, Access to Information
-
Electronic system for transparency in extractive industries
UA0094, 2020, Anti-Corruption
-
Establish National Centre for Open Data Competence
UA0095, 2020, Access to Information
-
Digital accessibility for persons with disabilities
UA0096, 2020, E-Government
-
Increasing youth participation in policy
UA0097, 2020, Capacity Building
-
Publish information related to road system
UA0098, 2020, E-Government
-
Register for infrastructure contract information
UA0099, 2020, Anti-Corruption
-
Publish gender-disaggregated open data
UA0100, 2020, Access to Information
-
Infrastructure Data Portal
UA0070, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Standard for e-System
UA0071, 2018, E-Government
-
Ensuring Openness and Transparency of Selling Public Assets and Property
UA0072, 2018, E-Government
-
Transparency in Public Procurement (Prozorro)
UA0073, 2018, Access to Information
-
Awarenss Raising About Social and Economic Development
UA0074, 2018, Aid
-
e-Calls for Proposals to Support CSOs
UA0075, 2018, Civic Space
-
Beneficial Ownership Registry
UA0076, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Anti-Corruption Training
UA0077, 2018, Anti-Corruption
-
Publishing Environmental Information
UA0078, 2018, E-Government
-
Database of Natural Resources
UA0079, 2018, Access to Information
-
Interactive Map of Mines
UA0080, 2018, E-Government
-
Priority Electronic Services
UA0081, 2018, Citizenship & Immigration
-
Online Platform for Executive Bodies and CSOs
UA0082, 2018, Civic Space
-
EITI Online Data
UA0083, 2018, Access to Information
-
Electronic Resources for Education
UA0084, 2018, Access to Information
-
Online Verification of Education Certificates
UA0085, 2018, E-Government
-
Free Access to National Repository for Academic Texts
UA0086, 2018, E-Government
-
Administrative Service Decentrilisation and Improvement
UA0057, 2016, Capacity Building
-
United State Portal Extension; Electronic Government Information Services Unification; Modern Tools for Electronic Identification
UA0058, 2016, Capacity Building
-
System for Entities Performing Government Functions
UA0059, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Free Urban Planning Documentation
UA0060, 2016, E-Government
-
Beneficial Ownership Verification System
UA0061, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
CoST Beneficial Ownership Standards
UA0062, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Transpartent Budget System
UA0063, 2016,
-
Open Public Procurement
UA0064, 2016, Access to Information
-
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
UA0065, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Environmental Public Monitoring
UA0066, 2016, Access to Information
-
Community Policing System
UA0067, 2016, Education
-
Draft Law on Public Consultations
UA0068, 2016, Legislation & Regulation
-
Development of E-Democracy.
UA0069, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Improve Government Rules on CSO Involvement
UA0031, 2014, E-Government
-
Financing of Charities
UA0032, 2014, Civic Space
-
Not-For-Profit Status for CSOs
UA0033, 2014, Civic Space
-
Public Participation Law
UA0034, 2014, E-Government
-
Establishing Rules on Processing Official Information
UA0035, 2014, Access to Information
-
Access to Urban Planning Documents
UA0036, 2014, E-Government
-
Access to Communist-Era Archives
UA0037, 2014, Legislation & Regulation
-
Draft Law on Open Data
UA0038, 2014, Access to Information
-
Supervisory Mechanism for the Right to Information
UA0039, 2014, Access to Information
-
Compliance with EITI
UA0040, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Monitoring of Infrastructure Projects
UA0041, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Adopt Regional Anti-Corruption Programmes
UA0042, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Corruption Risk Assessment Methodology
UA0043, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Asset Disclosure on a Single Web Portal
UA0044, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Law on Administrative Procedure
UA0045, 2014, Legislation & Regulation
-
Law on Streamlining Payment of Administrative Fees
UA0046, 2014, E-Government
-
Administrative Services Portal
UA0047, 2014, Access to Information
-
Draft Law on Decentralisation of Administrative Services
UA0048, 2014, Legislation & Regulation
-
Draft Law on Social Services
UA0049, 2014, E-Government
-
e-Government Laws
UA0050, 2014, E-Government
-
Electronic Readiness Assessment
UA0051, 2014, E-Government
-
Government Regulations on Open Data
UA0052, 2014, Access to Information
-
Electronic Democracy Development Roadmap
UA0053, 2014, Anti-Corruption
-
Open Budget Initiatives
UA0054, 2014, Access to Information
-
e-Petitions
UA0055, 2014, Access to Justice
-
e-Governance Training for Local Government
UA0056, 2014, Capacity Building
-
Laws on Public Participation
UA0001, 2012, Civic Space
-
Amendments to the Law on Community Associations
UA0002, 2012, Civic Space
-
Amendments to Resolutions on Collaboration with Civil Society
UA0003, 2012, E-Government
-
Training for Public Servants on Consultations
UA0004, 2012, Capacity Building
-
Harmonisation of Access to Information Laws
UA0005, 2012, Access to Information
-
By-Laws on Access to Information
UA0006, 2012, Access to Information
-
Guidelines for Classifying Data
UA0007, 2012, Public Participation
-
Public Information Recording Systems
UA0008, 2012,
-
Law on Public Broadcasting
UA0009, 2012, Civic Space
-
Public Access to Information in State Registers
UA0010, 2012, E-Government
-
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
UA0011, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Law for Controlling Declarations of Public Servants
UA0012, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Public Declarations of Officials’ Assets
UA0013, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest
UA0014, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Updated Anti-Corruption Laws
UA0015, 2012, E-Government
-
Regional Anti-Corruption Programmes
UA0016, 2012, E-Government
-
Law on Competitive e-Government Procurement
UA0017, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
Administrative Services Reforms
UA0018, 2012, E-Government
-
Electronic Access to Administrative Services
UA0019, 2012, E-Government
-
Governmental Web Portal of Administrative Services
UA0020, 2012, E-Government
-
Administrative Services in a Digital Format
UA0021, 2012,
-
Regional Administrative Service Centres
UA0022, 2012,
-
Programme for Promotion of e-Government
UA0023, 2012, E-Government
-
Electronic Collaboration Between Executive Agencies
UA0024, 2012,
-
Web-Based Petitions System
UA0025, 2012, E-petitions
-
One Stop Shop for e-Reporting
UA0026, 2012, E-Government
-
e-Region Pilot Project
UA0027, 2012, E-Government
-
Network of e-Government Practitioners
UA0028, 2012, Public Participation
-
Public Libraries as Bridges Towards e-Governance
UA0029, 2012, E-Government
-
e-Government Knowledge Management Portal
UA0030, 2012,