DESIGN OF AN INFORMATION-SYSTEM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL-PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT (SIPA)

A conceptual basis and general structure of an information system for environmental planning and management is described. This framework is being developed by the Universities of Madrid and La Laguna (Canary Is lands) to facilitate the environmental policies of central and regiona l governments in Spain. Environmental information, selected from a lar ge set of data concerning soils, water, atmosphere, flora and fauna, a nd socio-economic factors, is used in the analysis of well-defined ''e nvironmental problems''. These environmental problems (EP) are the str ucturing elements of the information system, and their management is s imulated by trial-and-error models. EP are understood as anomalous sit uations which affect the ecological and socio-economic quality of the environment.