Development of Environmental Information Framework in Palestine

Abstract

Many environmental organizations in Gaza Strip collect environmental information related to their strategies. It was investigated that the environmental data in these organizations are scattered. The access to environmental information, if exist, is difficult and tedious. This is because different organizations hold environmental information related to Gaza Strip and rarely publish this information. The main aim of this research is to improve and/or develop a framework for environmental information collected by different organizations in Palestine. To achieve this aim, the database was designed based on the water resources management framework and strategy for the water sector institutions (mission, vision, objectives …). The database was developed by Microsoft Access. In this research, environmental information are classified into three main groups: meteorological, hydrological, and water resources. These groups consist of all water parameters related to work of different institutions in Gaza Strip. The database was tested using available data mainly the meteorological data and water wells quality data. It was found that some of water sector institutions don’t have clear mission or vision or objectives items of environmental strategy. It was found that the water sector data are scattered and not organized, and great effort are needed to tabulate the data to fit the designed database. Framework of water database can be used as a guide to the concerned authorities and institutions and in charge of following up the arrangement of data.