"INSTANT
NOTIFICATION SYSTEM FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF
VULNERABLE AREAS"
The
Need
The
Aitoloakarnania Prefecture comprises some of the most
beautiful natural parks in Greece, with many places of significant natural
wealth. In the context of “sustainable development”,
the Prefecture needed an information system for efficient monitoring, protection and management of the
natural areas.
The
Project
The
Prefecture of Aitoloakarnania, within the Call context, requested the
development of a total turn-key solution for the instant notification,
the environmental protection and the management of vulnerable areas.
Agiltech was responsible for the planning, development and support of
the main system for the Protection and Management of Environmentally
Vulnerable Areas as well as the planning and the development of the
pertaining portal.
The system collects data from various sub-systems so as to organize the
relevant tasks of the Prefecture and assign them to the relevant
stakeholders.
This
turn-key solution offers total environmental protection and management,
by supporting all the required actions for the:
-
Prevention of threats
-
Confrontation of any difficulty faced
-
Monitoring and management of everyday needs
-
Surveillance of vulnerable areas
-
Public participation and contribution
-
Cultivation of environmental conscience
-
Demonstration of areas
-
Decision support
-
Creation of a knowledge base
-
Restoration (post-crisis) tasks support
The
system allows for the management of all tasks required to solve the
problems that might come up relating to environmentally vulnerable
areas. The system is able to deal with natural threats (forest fires
etc) and all the issues that may harm the areas such as pollution,
malevolent or malicious activities etc.
The automation systems installed (sensors and cameras) provide instant
notification of threat existence, informing immediately all
stakeholders, contributing to the prompt prevention. Through this system
the Prefecture can be quickly informed of the existence of a fire or the
high risk of fire at the areas within its jurisdiction.
In case of fire or other natural disasters, the system indicates the
actions needed in order to confront the event. Post-fire actions are
also organized by the system so as to support the recovery phase.
The system also manages, monitors and keeps track of the usual and
periodic tasks of the Prefecture such as guards, patrols, environmental
projects control, local inspections, terrestrial flora and fauna
monitoring etc.
Citizens may as well contribute to the environmental protection by
reporting problems through the portal. Thus, the problem reports are
handled quicker and in a more effective way.
Moreover, the portal supports the communication between citizens and the
Prefecture. The citizens may get information regarding many
environmental issues and natural areas such as the location of parks and
recreation areas, information regarding the terrestrial flora and fauna
etc. In this way, the environmental conscience among citizens will be
fostered. Areas of outstanding natural beauty may as well be displayed
through the portal.
Overall, the turn-key solution supports all the actions needed regarding
the planning, execution and evaluation of the environmental policies.
The contract for the award of this call was signed in August 2009 and
the system was developed and delivered in December 2009. The project was
co-funded by European and national funds.
The
Result
The
delivery of the system signals the strong infrastructure that the
Prefecture has at its disposal for the protection and management of the
natural wealth of the area. The benefits of the system for the employees
of the Prefecture and the citizens are many:
-
Increase of productivity and efficiency of the employees of the
Prefecture regarding environmental issues
-
Rational decision making that is based on all data available
-
Strategic planning and decision making support
-
Effective resource planning
-
Better coordination between all stakeholders
-
Improved environmental conditions leading to increase of citizens’
quality of life
-
Fostering of public environmental conscience by triggering their
active participation.
