Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Monitoring
Monitoring aims to establish a system of continued observation, measurement and
evaluation for defined purposes. It may provide information at the start of a
development, during implementation or after completion. Without monitoring, it
can be difficult or impossible to establish how things are performing. Monitoring is
the process of keeping the health of the environment (and with social monitoring, of
society) in view (Spellerberg, 1991:xi). If sustainable development is a goal,
monitoring is vital.
Monitoring should be operated to agreed schedules with comparable methods.
The focus may be on biology, chemical pollution, air pollution, or any other aspect
of the environment. It is seldom possible to obtain a precise, detailed picture of all
environmental parameters (let alone social, economic ones, etc.). Monitoring is
therefore often undertaken for a specific reason (or reasons), for the systematic
measurement of selected variables (Mitchell, 1997:261), to:
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improve understanding of environmental, social or economic processes;
♦
provide early warning;
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help optimize use of the environment and resources;
♦
assist in regulating environmental and resources usage (e.g. it may provide
information for law courts);
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assess conditions;
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establish baseline data, trends, cumulative effects, etc;
♦
check that required standards are being met, or see whether something of interest
has changed;
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document sinks, sources, etc;
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test models, verify hypotheses or research;
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determine the effectiveness of measures or regulations;
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provide information for decision-making;
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advise the public.
The UNEP promoted global environmental monitoring at the 1972 UN
Conference on the Human Environment. There has been increasing interest, spurred
by transboundary problems, in developing international monitoring systems. These

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seek to monitor at the global level and ideally offer wide access to their
information (those bodies involved include the UNEP, OECD, EEC; and the
International Atomic Energy Commission). The UNEP has established the Global
Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS), which is a co-ordinated programme
for gathering data for use in environmental management and for early warning
of disasters. An independent international research unit was founded in 1975 to
assist international organizations with monitoring—the Monitoring and
Assessment Research Centre (MARC). This concentrates on biological and
ecological monitoring, particularly pollution. The World Conservation Monitoring
Centre was established in 1980 by upgrading an IUCN-run body, to monitor
endangered plant and animal species. The US Food and Drugs Administration
monitors pharmaceutics and foods. The spread and use of weapons (especially
nuclear, chemical and biological) are increasingly monitored by international
bodies. In most countries, doctors, vets and other professionals report observed
effects to central monitoring bodies.
Monitoring may show how the environment, a society, or economy changes,
aiding understanding of structure and function. Monitoring, surveillance and screening
(the checking of a specific thing, e.g. a particular disease in a population—not to be
confused with impact assessment screening) are valuable development aids but they
can generate problems over who should administer, enforce and pay for them.