Milestone event I. – Brussels
June 20-22, 2007, Brussels Belgium
Our workshop entitled “Cross-Border SDI Approach From Local To Global” was held in Brussels on June 20-22, 2007. The main patron of the event was Ms. Catherine Day, Secretary-General of the European Commission, whose message to the forum participants was personally read by Joachim D’Eugenio, Water Framework Directive Team Co-ordinator, European Commission DG Environment, Unit ENV D.2 – Water and Marine. Official government representatives from the countries affected by the Tisza River Basin were also present. On the closing day of the event, the invited experts from nearly seventy countries took part in jointly formulating their suggestions and recommendations.
Conclusions and Recommendations
(Summary of the Conference)
Moderator: Rudolf Schneeberger (Switzerland)
Conclusions 1
The Workshop on the Ihlet Tisza River Development Programmeagreed that the establishment of a regional Geospatial Data
Infrastructure is a foundation for
– the establishment of a water resources management and an environmental and flood protection system
– the efforts to enhance the region’s economic potentials to attract investment and promote trade
– promoting social development in the region, including the social cadastre
Conclusions 2
The Workshop in recognizing the global nature of the problems to be solved in the Tisza River basin agreed to a close cooperation with other watershed development initiatives in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Conclusions 3
The Workshop recognized the importance of the EU INSPIRE Directive as a legal framework for the establishment of a SDI and
agreed that the Ihlet Tisza River Development Programme should be a pilot for INSPIRE of an implementation of a cross border
regional SDI.
Conclusion 4
Geospatial Information should be fully incorporated into
– National Development Policies, Strategies and Programs
– Development Aid Programs
Recommendation 1
Supporting the approach “From Local to Global” the participants of the workshop recommend that:
–Ihlet programme management with the help of the 48 centres and international experts should take the lead in formulating a
policy framework taking into account the aspect of environmental protection, economic and social development
–The 48 centres should implement this policy, act as a link to all local communities and contribute to homogeneous and strong
institutional ties with their governments
Recommendation 2
Recognizing the need for an open infrastructure which can be integrated with other applications on a local, regional or national
level, the participants of the workshop recommend:
–To build the Ihlet Tisza River Basin SDI on the emerging INSPIRE standards
–To give priority to establishing a metadata catalogue with a metadata search portal
Recommendations 3
Recognizing the need for a broad institutional foundation of this project the participants of the workshop recommend that
–Ihlet should apply to become a member of EUROGI
–All countries of the Tisza River Basin should establish a national organisation for Geospatial Information using Ihlet and
EUROGI as facilitators
Recommendation 4
Ihlet will inform the five governments about the conclusions of the workshop and ask them to give consideration to the
formulation of a Charter with the purpose of achieving the integrated development and management of the Tisza River Basin.
The Ihlet Programme should serve as an integration platform to achieve these goals.