Best Practices in Environmental Information Management in Africa

Annex 1: Key milestones in the environment information management process

1986 Ministry of Environment Protection was formed

1996 Publication of the second edition of the National State of the Environment Report 1996–2000 7 districts chosen to pilot the vertical environment information network 1997 Local Governments Act giving mandate for environment man- agement including environment information to districts

1987 Idea to establish an environment information centre began 1989 Users needs assessment to discern information and capacity needs required for the establishment of a national environment information centre 1989 Establishment of the National Environment Information Cen- tre (NEIC) August 1990 Cabinet decision formalising the formation of the NEIC 1991–1993 Production of 4 pilot District Environment Profiles 1992 Start of the National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) process

1997–1998 NEMA supports 39 districts to produce DSOERs

1998 Publication of the third edition of the National State of the En- vironment Report

2000 NEMA appointed a UNEP GEO Collaborating Centre

2000 Publication of the fourth edition of the National State of the Environment Report 2001 Vertical environment information network expanded to 27 dis- tricts (including the original 7) 2002 Publication of the fifth edition of the National State of the Envi- ronment Report

1993 Passing of the Decentralisation statute

1994 The Environment Management Policy was published

1994 Production of the first State of the Environment Report for Uganda 1995 Passing of the Environment Act Cap 153 which gave the right of access to environment information 1995 Promulgation of a new constitution which recognised access to information as a basic right

2004 56 districts trained and supported to produce DSOERs

2004 Publication of the sixth edition of the National State of the En- vironment Report

April 1995 Review to redefine the role of the NEIC

2005 Passing of the Access to Information Act

July 1995 Incorporation of the NEIC into NEMA’s Division of Informa- tion and Monitoring December 1995 Installation and use of the UNEP metadata tool at NEMA and EIN institutions

2006 Publication of the seventh edition of the National State of the Environment Report 2007 NEMA coordinates the production of the IGAD Environment Outlook July 2008 Process to produce the eighth National State of the Environ- ment Report began August 2008 NEMA management agreed to expand the Resource Centre

December 1995 Establishment of NEMA completed

March 1996 First national workshop on environment information network- ing in Uganda

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The Uganda Case Study