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INFOTERRA INFOTERRA ISIS Overview
UN / UNEP 

INFOTERRA-ISIS is a database management system which enables each INFOTERRA national focal point to maintain a national database (directory) of institutional sources of environmental information. The system also provides for the integration of these national databases into an international database of sources i.e. the INFOTERRA International Directory of Sources.

UNESCO's software package, Micro CDS/ISIS is the basic database management system used, supplemented by a user-friendly PASCAL interface developed by the Institute for Computer and Information Engineering (ICIE), Warsaw, Poland.

The purpose of the international database is to point the user to institutions that have substantive information and expertise on a range of environmental topics and can therefore respond to requests from users for substantive information on these topics.

Each source is described according to the following profile:

  1. Contact address details
  2. Type of institution
  3. Working languages
  4. Geographic scope of information holdings
  5. Terms of access to information
  6. Products and services provided by source
  7. Keywords (from ENVOC) describing information coverage
  8. Additional (narrative) description of source
At the national level, more detailed information on the sources is available. For example, experts affiliated to the institution; monographs and serials published by the institution. Each INFOTERRA national focal point is responsible for maintaining the national database of sources in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. The INFOTERRA secretariat is responsible for integrating the national databases from each country into the international database which is accessible on this Web site.

An INFOTERRA-ISIS User Manual is available for INFOTERRA national focal points.

 

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INFOTERRA Secretariat 

Division of Environmental Information and Assessment 
United Nations Environment Programme 
P.O. Box 30552 
Nairobi, KENYA
Tel: (254 2) 624299 
Fax: (254 2) 624269 
E-mail: infotinf@unep.org