Database of Natural Resources (UA0079)

Updating the state registers/databases of natural resources, improving efficiency of their operation and use to create favourable conditions for running economic activities Nowadays, there is a plentiful of non-systematized materials and data on natural resources that are stored in hard copies. They should be stock checked, structured and digitized. This problem complicates publication of data in open data format and prevents data interaction and exchange between state environment registers and other state information resources. Actions Responsible Timeframe Partners Indicator 1. Stock checking of state registers of natural resources for digitizing Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Agro Policy State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources State Agency of Water Resources October – December 2018 – June 2018 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) Report on stock checking and assessment of information registers of natural resources produced 2. Digitizing of information registers of natural resources Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Agro Policy State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources State Agency of Water Resources January 2019 – December 2020 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) Information registers of natural resources digitized 3. Publishing state information registers of natural resources in open data format Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry of Agro Policy State Service of Geology January 2019 – December 2020 Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Ecology, Open Environment Project of Open Society Foundation, State information registers of natural resources are published in open data format; their consistency and integration to the system of e- 18 and Mineral Resources State Agency of Water Resources USAID and UK aid-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services Program/TAPAS, other CSOs and international organizations (upon their consent) interaction of state e-information resources ensured Expected results of this activity are creating favourable conditions for economic activities through using and online access to state registers/databases of natural resources in open data format.

10. Update the state registers of natural resources

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [86] Updating the state registers/databases of natural resources, improving efficiency of their operation and use to create favourable conditions for running economic activities

Nowadays, there is a plentiful of non-systematized materials and data on natural resources that are stored in hard copies. They should be stock checked, structured and digitized. This problem complicates publication of data in open data format and prevents data interaction and exchange between state environment registers and other state information resources.

Milestones:

1. Stock checking of state registers of natural resources for digitizing
2. Digitizing of information registers of natural resources
3. Publishing state information registers of natural resources in open data format

Start Date: December 2018

End Date: December 2020

Context and objectives

Non-systematized materials and data on natural resources in Ukraine are mainly stored in hard copies, [87] or are not published in an open data format, which prevents exchange of information between state environment registers and other state information resources. According to an interviewed civil society representative, some agricultural and industrial actors pollute rivers and soil with chemicals, information about such pollution is limited, and the amount and quality of publicly available ecological data at each responsible agency is unknown. [88] Furthermore, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) employee [89] highlighted a current lack of technical capacity and financial resources to systematize and digitize the available information on the environment.

This commitment aims to update state registers and databases on natural resources and improve the efficiency of their operation. Each activity has indicators, which make this commitment verifiable. The disclosure of ecological data in digital format also makes this commitment relevant to the values of access to information and technology and innovation.

This commitment lays the foundation for Commitment 9 from this action plan, which aims to introduce the Open Environment System, by consolidating the available ecological registries and databases into a single database. As an interviewed representative from the Open Society Foundation Ukraine stated, current ecological databases include data only on specific projects with allocated funding and they are not updated after the projects are finished. [90] Indeed, as of July 2019, the latest open dataset of the MENR website is dated 14 July 2017, [91] and there are a total of 31 datasets. [92] Given the above-mentioned problems, this commitment could have significant economic potential, [93] with agribusiness for example being more aware about the quality of land and thereby able to make better data-driven decisions about profitable locations for obtaining licenses and investing funds in agricultural enterprise. Therefore, this commitment can be assigned a moderate level of potential impact.

Next steps

For this commitment to be successfully implemented, the MENR needs to apply a unified open data format for digitization of datasets. The data should be published in the Five Star Open Data standard to be re-usable. [94]

• MENR needs to take measures to actively communicate published datasets to end-users, such as ecological CSOs and agribusiness companies.
• To ensure interoperability, the registers need to feed into the Open Environment portal, from the linked commitment in this plan.

For the next action plan, MENR could aim for staff training for sustainable collection, processing, and publishing of these registries and databases. It is important to ensure that responsible officials understand open data and have the capacity to maintain datasets.

10. Update the state registers of natural resources

Completion: Limited

The government had started to conduct a full inventory and analyzing its registers of natural resources to translate them into digital formats. [105] The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources was still updating its registers of natural resources. ^[106] Comprehensive registers of natural resources in open data formats are not available on the Ukraine Geoinform website, ^[107] the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources website, ^[108] or the governmental Open Data Portal. ^[109] An independent expert confirmed that the institutional changes in and the loss of specialist staff due to the merging and then reestablishment of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in 2020 paused the implementation of comprehensive registers. ^[110] The government did publish data on mineral reserves (i.e., the amount of reserves and location) on the Geoinform website, and this data can be accessed via a search function. ^[111]