Environmental Data Sharing (MO0005)

Establishing a mechanism for environmental data sharing (National Observatories for Environment and Sustainable Development)
From July 2018 to August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
Secretariat of State in charge of Sustainable Development (SEDD) Directorate of Observation, Studies, and Planning
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address?
Many issues arise when it comes to accessing information on environment and sustainable development at the regional level and its circulation, namely: The non-institutionalisation of regional networks for information and data sharing The absence of a dynamic regional platform to share information and data on environment and sustainable development.
What is the commitment?
This commitment will strengthen and revitalise the Regional Monitoring Centres on Environment and Sustainable Development (ONEDD), which manage and share environmental data and information with partners and the public. It is within this context that the Secretariat of State in charge of Sustainable Development began a large-scale project to supply each region with a Regional Information System on Environment and Sustainable Development (SIREDD). This commitment consists of: Using and deploying a technology platform to manage and share environmental data; Updating the SIREDDs by collecting and adding data; Training and supporting regional partners to feed and update the SIREDDs; Developing a geo-catalogue and suppling it with data and the anticipated services. The impact of this commitment will be assessed based on the following indicators: Number of regional networks to share information and data institutionalised with gubernatorial decrees signed by the Walis (Governors) of the regions: 9 out of 12 of the Kingdom’s regions; Number of SIREDDs deployed: 3 out of 12 of the Kingdom’s regions.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
The creation of regional information sharing networks and the development of the SIREDDs will invigorate the circulation of environmental information at the regional level.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?
The importance of this commitment lies in the fact that it helps the regions to: Invigorate the circulation of information and meet the needs of users from the public, private, and NGO sector with regard to environmental information through the development of a Regional Portal for Environmental Information; Provide a support tool for decision making and technological monitoring with regard to managing and protecting the environment and sustainable development; Set up a platform for the updating, production, and regular dissemination of environmental information and data; Build capacity among the regional managers with regard to the production, management, and use of information on environment and sustainable development.
Additional information
The SIREDDs will be supplied with new modules and functionalities to monitor climate change indicators and the sustainable development goals (SDG). Related commitment: Commitment 4
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable
Creating the SIREDDs
July 2018 December 2018
Institutionalising the regional networks to exchange and share information on environment and sustainable development (SIREDD)
July 2018 December 2019
Capacity building for the regional managers on using the SIREDDs.
September 2018 December 2019
Contact point details
Contact point name (project manager)
Ms Bourous Saida
Position/department
Head of Environmental Databases Unit Secretariat of State in charge of Sustainable Development (SEDD)
Email and telephone
Email: bourousaida1960@gmail.com bourous@environnement.gov.ma Telephone: (Landline) 05 37 71 77 62 (Mobile) 212 661 70 24 40
Other actors involved
State actors involved
Wilayas, Regions, Provinces, Prefectures, and Municipalities; Regional offices of Ministerial departments; Public Water Authorities; Regional Investment Centres; Regional Offices of the National Department of Water and Electricity; Universities and Research Institutes;
NGOs and Civil Society; Private sector; German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Commitment 5: Establish An Environmental Data Sharing Mechanism

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“This commitment will strengthen and revitalize the Regional Monitoring Centers on Environment and Sustainable Development (ONEDD), which manage and share environmental data and information with partners and the public. It is within this context that the Secretariat of State in charge of Sustainable Development began a large-scale project to supply each region with a Regional Information System on Environment and Sustainable Development (SIREDD).

This commitment consists of:

• Using and deploying a technology platform to manage and share environmental data;
• Updating the SIREDDs by collecting and adding data; *
• Training and supporting regional partners to feed and update the SIREDDs;
• Developing a geo-catalogue and suppling it with data and the anticipated services.

The impact of this commitment will be assessed based on the following indicators:

• Number of regional networks to share information and data institutionalized with gubernatorial decrees signed by the Wallis (Governors) of the regions: 9 out of 12 of the Kingdom’s regions;
• Number of SIREDDs deployed: 3 out of 12 of the Kingdom’s regions.”

Milestones:

• Creating the SIREDDs.
• Institutionalizing the regional networks to exchange and share information on environment and sustainable development (SIREDD).
• Capacity building for the regional managers on using the SIREDDs.

Start Date: July 2018

End Date: August 2020

Editorial Note: the commitment description provided above is an abridged version of the commitment text, please see the full action plan here: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/morocco-action-plan-2018-2020/

Context and objectives

This commitment aims to increase and standardize environmental data across government and with the public. The government seeks to better inform decision-making by publishing real time and comprehensive environmental data through a National Environmental Information System. In the long run, this commitment is part of the government's aim to measure adaptation and combat climate change.

The National Observatory of the Environment for Sustainable Development (ONEDD) was created in 1994. Since then, ONEDD has published various reports on the State of the Environment in Morocco and Sustainable Development Indicators. The Government of Morocco has collected environmental data at the regional level since 2003 and produced State of the Regional Environment Reports. However, these reports have not been produced on a regular basis and there is an absence of a dynamic regional platform to collect environmental data. [43] The Regional Observatories for the Environment and Sustainable Development were created in 2011 to relay information for ONEDD at the regional level. In 2018, Order Number 114 established regional commissions of the Regional Observatories of the Environment and Sustainable Development (OREDD). [44]

Mohamme Rahoui, GIZ Technical Advisor on Environmental Data, reports that regional monitoring centers face a variety of challenges. ^[45] Environmental data is scattered across departments and reporting is not standardized. ^[46] Regional centers often need data held by regional governments under the Ministry of the Interior. Public requests for environmental data had to be physically submitted, responses were often delayed, and information frequently accessed through informal channels. Regional centers only share information when directed to do so and often resist sharing with anyone who is not a direct partner. Some centers do not publish data and others publish incomplete data. ^[47] The centers also struggle with financial and human resource capacity. GIZ has developed tools to share data in 3 pilot regions but these remain localized and not yet developed throughout the 12 regions of the country. ^[48]

Bourous Saida, Head of the Environmental Databases Unit in the Secretariat of State in charge of sustainable development and the government contact for this commitment, notes the government will designate information focal points at the regional level to channel data into the information system. Standardized procedures and the online platform will facilitate reliable and accurate environmental data that is more easily shared within and outside government. The commitment also seeks to align Morocco with European information sharing networks. ^[49] Mohamme Rahoui adds that implementation of this commitment would represent a significant step towards environmental information sharing. He advocates for the expansion of GIZ's data tool across all 12 regions with frequent data publication. ^[50]

This commitment holds a moderate potential to increase citizen access to environmental data. If implemented as written, the commitment would be a positive step towards the standardization of data collection and publication. Training and an online platform are the primary tools through which this commitment aims to increase environmental data transparency. The website will aim to provide real-time data in three categories: environmental indicators, sustainable development objectives and climate change factors. [51] This commitment is verifiable and relevant to the OGP value of access to information and technology and innovation for accountability and transparency.

Next steps:

The IRM recommends that implementors consider the following:

• Design the portal and publication procedures with multiple audiences in mind. Publish environmental data in both raw and easily understood formats. Information should be understandable for the general public, in various languages and media, in addition to the raw data for experts and researchers. ^[52]
• Partner with experts and civil society to develop a road map that specifies the frequency, formats, and scope of data to be published; pay special attention to timely data publication. Consult the public to ensure data and the portal are relevant and accessible.
• Design a strategy to ensure information exchange across agencies. Perhaps publicly acknowledge information champions and highlight noncompliant agencies.
• Focus local trainings on access to information. Especially for rural civil servants, focus on how to share environmental data, perhaps through the technical platforms created with the help of GIZ.

5. Establish an Environmental Data Sharing Mechanism

Complete:

This commitment aimed to increase and standardize environmental data across government and with the public. [53] In 2018, the Ministry of Energy, Minerals and Environment sought to better inform decision-making by establishing, for each of Morocco’s 12 regions, a Regional Information System on Environment and Sustainable Development (SIREDD). [54] The Regional Observatories of the Environment and Sustainable Development (OREDD) are charged with publishing environmental data on their respective SIREDD. [55] An OECD working group report [56] identified several challenges to SIREDDs, including capacity building of regional partners and data modeling and aggregation, which is important to facilitate the production and collection of information at the regional level. Currently, SIREDDs target more than 400 indicators in total, which is very ambitious and complicates the production and collection of information at the regional level. [57]

Sabrina Nassih, a founding member of civil society organization Green Youth, [58] sees the establishment of the SIREDDs as a good step forward for publishing environmental data. Nassih added that the architecture of the sites is well built, however the content is more problematic. The different data sets, in her experience, could not be combined as linked data, and the data available on the SIREDDs is generally already publicly available on other sites. According to the government’s self-assessment, next steps will target the harmonization of the SIREDDs with a view to setting up the National Environmental Information System (SINE), which will gather data from the regional level to combine it at the national level. [59] The 12 regional governors (wallis) adopted the 12 respective orders, which established the regional networks for the collection and exchange of environmental data and information. [60] On average, the Ministry held five awareness-raising events and trainings per region for all stakeholders and distributed information materials. [61]

While complete, this commitment was not evaluated for early open government results, as it was limited to the important but modest ambition to publish available environmental information for each region in one place.