The Regional Environmental Information Management Project (REIMP) is currently under preparation by the WorldBank and its partners. The main purpose of this project is to improve and strengthen natural resource management and planning in the Congo Basin by providing the various stakeholders with appropriate information on the Environment. The project has the following four specific objectives: 

• to foster the involvement of decision-makers in environmental information use and facilitate environmentally sound land-use planning in the Congo Basin 


 
 

• to provide users with environmental information that meet their needs


 
 

• to ensure information distribution and add value to existing initiatives, and 


 
 

• to strengthen national capacities.

The project will achieve these goals by developing a demand-driven and action-oriented environmental information system, which will reinforce the capacity for environmental monitoring, land use planning, priority setting and decision-making, particularly for forest management and biodiversity, at the local, national and regional level.  It will furthermore, establish a regional information user network of the various public and private partners, involved, in order to facilitate regional cooperation in natural resources management. 

Fig. 8 

The REIMP has already established several relations with existing projects. FAO (AFRICOVER experts) and USAID-CARPE (NASA and WRI experts) participate in the technical design of the project. A primary network of national institutions (around 20) was developed in Central Africa. These institutions have submitted activities that will be carried out during the first year of the project. The REIMP has now established its regional office in Libreville, Gabon. The project should start in January 1998. In the meanwhile, following products are under preparation:  

• the creation of a digital archive of topographic maps (scan of 145 - 1:200,000 scale - topographic maps of Central Africa and production of Digital Raster Graphic (DGR, USGS) (July 1997, Belgian Company I-MAGE Consult)

• the development of an environmental metadatabase (FGDC, USGS) on Central Africa information (June 97, University of Gent, Belgium) 

• the development of a regional 1: 1,000,000 database (produced by the German Company GAF, under the supervision of AFRICOVER experts) 

• the installation of INTERNET facilities in Central Africa (partnership between UNDP, the WorldBank and CARPE-WRI) 

• the support of UNHCR activities in the region with the development of GIS applications to improve post-crisis periods management. 

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