Saving Time for the Environment

INTERVIEW

Saving Time for the Environment

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has unveiled a new tool that will revolutionise environmental reporting. Ahmed Baharoon, the Executive Director of Environmental Information, Science & Outreach Management at EAD and Acting Director at Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) told The Sustainabilist everything there is to know about it.

54 W hat is IRIS-3, its purpose, and how does it work? IRIS-3, is the third generation release of the Indicator Reporting Information System - a webtechnologies application that automatically produces status, performance, compliance, and other reports from monitoring data. It is designed to support all tiers of government from sub-national to national, regional, and global, and makes reporting easier, faster and more unified.

Developed under the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), IRIS-3 is a first-of-its-kind tool that has been designed to significantly save

organisations around the world thousands of employee hours and reduce the institutional burden of routine environmental reporting. Currently, gathering information for reports can be very time consuming. IRIS-3 will help solve this problem as it will automate the vast majority of the reporting process. It is a gamechanging tool for organisations that have to produce reports on a regular basis, namely monthly, bi-monthly or annually.

IRIS-3 works by reading data from the organisation’s monitoring database and then automatically calculating the values for indicators. By converting data into a standardised report, organisations will be able to offer their expertise on the situation and explain the causes and consequences.

With this information, it will help provide a wider picture of the state of the environment that is easy to understand for all types of people, whether they are scientists or members of the public.

While EAD and UNEP designed IRIS-3 to make environmental reporting much easier, it is in fact universal and can be used for many other purposes where monitoring data must be converted into actionable information, so we expect IRIS-3 to have a big impact worldwide.

What are the benefits that can be drawn from using an automated system to collect and convert data into a standardised report? One of the key advantages is that it helps reduce the amount of time that is required by human beings to put reports together. It’s not just the efforts of the staff, it can also save organisations a significant amount of money. We realise that every situation will differ according to how many reports are required, but we estimated that every year approximately US$100 million are spent globally by subnational organisations in staff time alone in converting data into actionable information.

With the IRIS-3 software available as a remotely-hosted web platform or intranet app, it means it can also be used by all kinds of organisations.

The standardisation of environmental reporting is a potent means to combat greenwashing. How will EAD promote the global adoption of IRIS-3 and support honest and transparent reporting? AGEDI is implemented by EAD at the sub-national scale and by UNEP at the global scale. UNEP, through their World Environment Situation Room initiative, their global network of regional offices and their global network of collaborating centres and partners will encourage the use of IRIS for objective, evidence-based reporting and decision-making.

As a government entity, we will work with our partners in the UAE and the region to ensure IRIS-3 supports the diversity of environmental priorities facing the region.

IRIS allows for transparency and honest reporting that is driven by data. Experts with local knowledge can add informed commentary but they cannot change the evidence.

What does launching this innovative technology mean to EAD and its mission to protect and enhance the quality of the local environment? As a founding partner of AGEDI, EAD is extremely proud to have played a central technical role in developing this transformative technology which is intended for global deployment.

We are very much in the view that IRIS-3 will be an essential tool for environmental reporting that will be implemented by organisations around the world.

With the world continuing to evolve at a rapid pace, we realise the importance of using technology to not only deal with the current state but also for the future. At EAD, we have regularly been using data and science through technology to monitor our environment, and with the addition of IRIS-3, it will help us even further to assess the quality of our environment and what areas we need to look at to improve the standards.

As part of our commitment, EAD is already playing an active role in helping to protect our biodiversity and preserve a quality of life for a sustainable future. During the last 25 years, we have made huge strides to tackling environmental challenges and conserving our nature and biodiversity whether it’s improving the water or air quality in Abu Dhabi, or looking after our wildlife.

55 This has helped EAD become the largest environmental regulator in the Middle East. With IRIS-3, the efficiency of the reports means we will be able to advise local organisations, including the UAE government, on the environmental situations more frequently while also suggesting solutions that will help ensure that our environment is clean, safe and healthy.