At the national level, the Indian Government Environmental Information System Network has been set up to deal with the collection, collation, storage, analysis, exchange, and dissemination of environmental data and information. Realising the importance of Environmental Information, the Government of India established an Environmental Information System (ENVIS) in December of 1982.
Purpose: The focus of ENVIS since its inception has been on providing environmental information to decisionmakers, policy planners, scientists and engineers, research workers, and others all over India.
Participating institutions: ENVIS has developed itself with a network of participating institutions and organisations. A large number of nodes, known as ENVIS Centers, have been established in the network to cover the broad subject areas of environment with a Focal Point in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Both the Focal Point and the ENVIS Centers have been assigned various responsibilities to achieve the Long-term and Short-term objectives of the programme.
Focal point: ENVIS is a decentralised system with a network of distributed subject oriented Centers ensuring integration of national efforts in environmental information collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of data to all concerned. Presently the ENVIS network consists of a Focal Point at the Ministry of Environment and Forest and ENVIS Centers setup in different organisations/establishments in the country in selected areas of environment.
Areas of the environment covered: Environmental Management, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Noise Pollution, Ecology, Nature and Natural Resources Conservation, Health and Toxicology, Wastes, Forestry, Wildlife, Energy and Plants and Pollution.
Long-term objectives: To build up a repository and dissemination center in Environmental Science and Engineering; to gear up the modern technologies of acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information of environmental nature; and to support and promote research, development and innovation in environmental information technology.
Short-term objectives: To provide national environmental information service relevant to present needs and capable of development to meet the future needs of the users, originators, processors and disseminators of information; to build up storage, retrieval, and dissemination capabilities with the ultimate objectives of disseminating information speedily to the users; to promote national and international cooperation and liaison for exchange of environment-related information; to promote, support, and assist education and personnel training programmes designed to enhance environmental information processing and utilisation capabilities; to promote exchange of information amongst developing countries.