National Focal Point Specification

The purpose of this document is to define the purpose, outputs, activities and organizational setting of an INFOTERRA national focal point (NFP) with an indication of the type of support provided to NFPs by UNEP/INFOTERRA. 

  1. INFOTERRA Mandates: 
    1. The 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment recommended the establishment of a mechanism for the exchange of environmental information and experiences among countries (Rec. 101). 


      2. In response to this recommendation, UNEP established the INFOTERRA network (initially known as IRS - International Referral System) and governments were requested to designate a national focal point (NFP) to coordinate INFOTERRA activities at the country level. To date, 174 countries have designated INFOTERRA NFPs. 

    2. The first Governing Council of UNEP in 1973 formulated GC Decision 1(I) which in para 12.C called for the continued development of the scope, structure and capacity of the International Referral System (INFOTERRA) with special consideration for timely and appropriate access by developing countries, free of charge, to this facility. 
    3. The 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) reiterated the importance of information for decision-making and requested the strengthening of the INFOTERRA network to improve information availability (Agenda 21, Chapter 40) 
    4. Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development proclaimed that: Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided. 
  2. Working Languages 


    3. INFOTERRA uses four working languages - English, French, Russian and Spanish which are all official UN languages. Communications between NFPs and UNEP/INFOTERRA can be conducted in any one of the four languages. UNEP/INFOTERRA will endeavour to provide its outputs and services in as many working languages as resources permit. Some materials are also available in the two remaining official UN languages, Arabic and Chinese, but the special character sets of these languages prevents UNEP/INFOTERRA from disseminating information electronically in these languages. However, focal points often have the expertise to assist UNEP/INFOTERRA with this task. 

    Various national focal points have translated and disseminated INFOTERRA products in non-UN languages, most notably, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, German and Hungarian. 

  3. Function 


    4. The primary function of the NFP is to provide a national environmental information service from the operating base of a state-of-the-art environmental information centre. 

    The centre should provide easy public access to wide-ranging and authoritative information on the environment. Both the content and format of the substantive information provided should be compatible with the users needs. 

    NFPs are not expected to have expertise in the management and dissemination of geo-referenced data and digitised maps using a GIS facility. However, the parent ministry/agency quite often has this facility, in which case, a referral service to the appropriate source should be provided by the NFP. 

    The environmental information collected, managed and disseminated by the NFP will, to a large extent, be technical literature. In addition, NFPs generally provide information support and materials to the host government's national environmental education programme. 

  4. NFP Location Guidelines 


    5. Instrumental to the success of an INFOTERRA national focal point and a critical ingredient in its contribution to the global network will be optimising the placement of the NFP within the governmental structure. 

    Because the organizational structure and priorities of governments varies so greatly, it is difficult to prescribe an ideal location. However, we offer the following three guidelines for the placement of the NFP: 

    1. To assist in resolving national environmental issues, the NFP should be easily accessible to policy and decision-makers, scientists, planners, researchers and the general public. Such placement provides ease of access to both the user community and the information resources. The public right of access to environmental information is an over-arching principle applicable to all INFOTERRA NFPs. 
    2. To actively contribute information to the network, the NFP should be located at the site of the best concentration of environmental information and expertise. 
    3. To ensure the maximum utilization of the INFOTERRA network, the NFP should be staffed by information professionals and have information services, computing and telecommunications support. 
    In practice, many NFPs are located in the national environmental information centre or technical information branch of the Ministry of Environment or other governmental ministry, agency, commission, etc with strong environmental protection mandate. 

    Each national government is invited and encouraged to designate an NFP and to communicate its name and address to the Executive Director of UNEP. The location and organizational structure of the NFP is the prerogative of the participating government. 

    INFOTERRA is designed to be sufficiently flexible to allow for many focal point variants. In keeping with its catalytic role, UNEP/INFOTERRA assists NFPs to participate effectively in INFOTERRA by offering training opportunities, prototypes of publicity materials, technical documentation, consultancy services, etc. 

  5. Costs 


    6. There are no financial outlays involved in joining INFOTERRA. However, participating governments are expected to ensure that sufficient resources are available to their NFPs to deliver most of the outputs and services described below. The major cost components are office space and facilities such as computers, library furniture, communications, photocopying, staff salaries, travel, publicity costs, and limited translation services. NFPs in developed countries are expected to bear the costs of providing technical publications to developing country users. 

  6. Staff 


    7. The staff of a focal point must be chosen so as to allow it to perform in an efficient manner its functions at both operational and policy levels. The NFP staff should understand the role of information in rational decision-making and should be able to motivate decision-makers and others to use INFOTERRA. The actual number of working-level staff employed in operating an INFOTERRA NFP will depend on the resources available, on the size of the potential source-user community and on the degree of automation available to the NFP. However, a minimum of two staff should be assigned responsibility for different aspects of INFOTERRA activities at national level: 

    Focal Point Manager: Head of Environmental Information Centre/Department or equivalent. 

    Qualifications: 
    Primary or advanced degree in Information or Library Science with several years of general management experience. Fluency in one of INFOTERRA's four working languages. 
    Responsibility: 
    Management of the national environmental information service. Liaison with UNEP/INFOTERRA on policy matters related to the operation of the NFP. The incumbent is the appropriate person to attend network management meetings organised by UNEP/INFOTERRA. 

    Raising awareness of national environmental problems and the role of information in meeting those challenges and promoting sustainable development. 
    Technical Officer: Librarian or Information Specialist 
    Qualifications: 
    Primary degree or diploma in Information or Library Science with several years of information management experience. Fluency in one of INFOTERRA's four working languages. Ability to work independently with minimal supervision. 
    Responsibility: 
    Liaison with UNEP/INFOTERRA on technical matters related to the operation of the NFP. The incumbent is the appropriate person to attend training courses organised by UNEP/INFOTERRA. 

    Development of close working relationships with other national and international information systems, individual scientists, information specialists, and other users and providers of environmental information. 
    NOTE: The individual allocation of responsibility between Focal Point Manager and Technical Officer may differ from country to country. Often, the officer who actively seeks to strengthen the NFP and the INFOTERRA network may be the appropriate person to attend network management meetings. 
  7. INFOTERRA NFP Outputs and Services 


    8. Since INFOTERRA NFPs are located in developed countries; developing countries; and countries in transition, the following list of outputs and services will obviously not apply to all NFPs due to differences in their information management capacities. Therefore, the list should be interpreted as a long-term objective to be attained. 

      Outputs: 
    1. National environmental information centre accessible to the public 
    2. National Directory of Sources of Environmental Information 
    3. National Bibliographic Environmental Database 
    4. Catalogue of library holdings 
    5. National environmental World Wide Web (WWW) site 
    6. INFOTERRA National Focal Point promotional pamphlet 
    7. Environmental awareness fact sheets or leaflets on topics of national interest available in local language(s) 
    8. Updated contribution to regional bibliographic environmental database (if applicable) 
    9. INFOTERRA Thesaurus of Environmental Terms available in local languages (excluding official UN languages) 
    10. INFOTERRA database available in local languages (excluding official UN languages) 
    11. INFOTERRA network fact sheet available in local languages (excluding official UN languages) 
    12. Annual query-response statistics report compiled (and submitted to UNEP/INFOTERRA) 
    13. National INFOTERRA newsletter 
    14. Regional INFOTERRA newsletter (applies only to those NFPs which are also regional service centres) 
    The NFP is encouraged to maintain special collections such as: 
    1. National legislation on environmental policy and management 
    2. National Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) 
    3. Environmental videos 
    4. Environmental literature suitable for children 
      Services: 
    1. Operates a national environmental information service (reference and document delivery) 
    2. Operates a document lending service 
    3. Provides video-viewing facilities and operates a video lending service 
    4. Provides access to interactive computer games and other multi-media products on environmental themes 
    5. Operates an Internet and CD-ROM search service 
    6. Establishes and maintains a national 'green' network of environmental information providers and users 
    7. Organizes national environmental information seminars 
    8. Organizes a World Environment Day (5 June) exhibition and associated promotional events 
    9. Promotes the work of UNEP at national level 
    10. Provides information support to a national environmental education programme (e.g. resource packs for teachers on environmental themes) 
    11. Establishes and maintains links with external libraries and networks 
    12. Establishes and maintains links with national/international NGOs on environmental information exchange 
    13. Participates in sub-regional INFOTERRA network (if applicable) 
    14. Participates in national Sustainable Development Network Programme (SDNP) of UNDP (applies to certain developing countries and countries in transition) 
    15. Provides consultancy services in environmental information management/services 
    16. Actively markets library information and user services 
    17. Maintains communications at all levels in the INFOTERRA network 
    18. Participates in the development, evaluation and improvement of the INFOTERRA network 
    19. Organizes regional network management meetings and training courses in cooperation with UNEP/INFOTERRA (applies only to those NFPs which are also INFOTERRA regional service centres). 
  8. UNEP/INFOTERRA Outputs and Services 
      9. Outputs: 
    1. INFOTERRA Thesaurus of Environmental Terms published in English, French, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Chinese 
    2. INFOTERRA-ISIS (International System of Information Sources) database available in English, French, Russian and Spanish 
    3. INFOTERRA International Directory of Sources published in English, French, Russian and Spanish 
    4. Environmental Information Services training booklet published in English, French and Spanish 
    5. INFOTERRA Network Brochure published in English, French, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Chinese 
    6. INFOTERRA Operations Manual published in English, French and Spanish 
    7. INFOTERRA Network Fact Sheet published in English, French, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Chinese 
    8. INFOTERRA Bulletin available biannually in English, French and Spanish 
    9. INFOTERRA Advisory Committee meeting reports published in English 
    10. Internet training guide published in English 
    11. Internet guide to environmental information resources published in English 
    12. Annual State of the INFOTERRA Network Report published in English, French and Spanish 
    13. National Focal Point Directory published biannually in English 
    14. Guidelines for indexing and abstracting environmental publications published in English, French and Spanish 
    15. Guidelines on marketing of environmental information services published in English, French and Spanish 
    16. Maintenance and expansion of INFOTERRA subscription list on the Internet for electronic exchange of information 
    17. Library Information System/Documentation Information System developed in English, French and Spanish 
    18. Annual query-response statistics report for the whole INFOTERRA network published in English 
      Services: 
    1. Operates a back-stopping query-response service 
    2. Liaises with Special Sectoral Sources on contractual matters and the processing of specialised queries 
    3. Provides technical assistance on various aspects of environmental information services 
    4. Establishes sub-regional networks (Southern Africa, Lusophone, Anglophone West Africa) upon request 
    5. Conducts regional training courses on environmental information management/services 
    6. Conducts in-country training courses on environmental information management/services 
    7. Organizes regional network management meetings 
    8. Organizes INFOTERRA Advisory Committee meetings biennially 
    9. Provides on-site technical assistance and advisory services to NFPs 
    10. Liaises with NFPs on network support matters 
    11. Conducts needs assessments for NFPs needs as a prerequisite to the formulation of capacity-building projects 
    12. Implements capacity-building projects to strengthen weaker NFPs 
    13. Distributes audio-visual materials to NFPs 
    14. Distributes UNEP databases (OAIC, IRPTC) to selected NFPs 
    15. Recruits new network partners 
    16. Evaluates NFP performance as an INFOTERRA network partner 
    17. Identifies misplaced and under-performing NFPs and advises on their optimal relocation within the host government structure 
    18. Catalyses enhanced information exchange between governmental and NGO/CBO sectors implemented in regions (Africa/CIS) 
    19. Manages the UNEP/INFOTERRA WWW site with links to WWW sites managed by NFPs