Project Description
The Overall Objective (intended long-term impact) of the Project was improved environmental governance in terms of enhanced service delivery of DEA by simplifying the environmental permitting processes for the regulated community to a single entry and exit point for all environmental authorisation, permit and license applications in which DEA is the competent authority, as well as internally streamlining the review and approval processes.
The Project Purpose (immediate objective) was that by the end of the ICI Project DEA would have the required capacity and knowledge to finalise and implement the technical design of the coordinated and integrated environmental permitting system, utilising the Project outputs, technical expertise of SITA as well as lessons learned and experiences gained in the development of electronic environmental permitting system in Finland.
The first Professional Visits of five Finnish experts to South Africa and of six South African experts to Finland were organised in August 2014 and October 2014 respectively. The Visits enabled mutual learning and understanding of various aspects of environmental permitting systems, particularly the permitting processes; technical solutions for e.g. applications, information dissemination and back office components; interrelations between environmental assessment, permitting and enforcement; and public participation in environmental permitting processes. The lessons learned can be taken into consideration in the future development of the permitting and enforcement systems and related regulations and technical solutions in both countries.
The cooperation on the technical aspects was continued by a Professional Visit of two spatial data experts of SYKE to South Africa on 31 August - 4 September 2015 and a Professional Visit of four DEA experts to Finland on 23-27 November 2015. The purpose of the Professional Visits was to exchange experiences, plans and best practices for spatial data management and use in environmental administration, particularly for environmental permitting systems. The objective was to strengthen the capacities of both DEA and SYKE in their efforts to develop environmental spatial data infrastructures in their respective countries.
The Expected Result was achieved to the extent that the Concept of Operations was approved, and the Business Service Specifications for three priority permit processes (Environmental Authorisations, Environmental Impact Assessment and Waste Management) were completed. In addition, Proof of Concept for the Off-Road Vehicles permit process was developed and the conceptual phase of the Solutions Architecture design was completed. In addition, the technical platforms were identified, assessed and planned. These included MySQL, JSF (Java Server Faces), HTML/XML/CSS, Jboss, Apache Shiro, Drools, JEE7 and Web Services. In addition, the development of the three priority permit had progressed to an advanced stage. DEA has already conducted three user acceptance focus group meetings. The 3rd one was held on the 9th of December 2015.
Services provided by SYKE
SYKE is responsible for the coordination and quality assurance of all Project activities of the Finnish partners and provision of technical expertise on spatial data management.
More Information
Mr. Pekka J Salminen, Project Manager, International Affairs Unit, Finnish Environment Institute, forename.surname@ymparisto.fi
Ms. Kristiina Soini, Director of Information Management, Data and Information Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, forename.surname@ymparisto.fi