❓ The Minister for Mines and Petroleum provides an update on the progress of the State Environmental Data Library, aimed at making environmental data publicly accessible and reducing duplication of survey work by mining companies.
AnsweredQoN 383Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
STATE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA
LIBRARY
383. Mr J. NORBERGER to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Can the minister please update the house on the government's
progress in delivering a state environmental data library?
LIBRARY
383. Mr J. NORBERGER to the Minister for
Mines and Petroleum:
Can the minister please update the house on the government's
progress in delivering a state environmental data library?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Joondalup for giving me the opportunity to
update the house on where we are at with producing a state environmental data
library, the purpose of which is to ensure that all the data we have is
publicly available through an easily accessible portal and that it covers the
information that is already captured by my department, the Department of
Environment Regulation, the Environmental Protection Authority, the Department
of Water and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Much of this information is
collected when mining companies lodge environmental applications, so the data
comes from the resources sector. The construction of the data library is being
project managed by my department. The purpose of the data library is to ensure
that we do not duplicate the survey work that is undertaken by mining companies
in the environmental application process or repeat the production of
environmental surveys that have already been done. To date my department has
developed a prototype through extensive consultation with not only industry but
also the departments I have already mentioned. The data library builds on the
existing expertise and experience within the department. The department already
holds 100 000 reports and these will be digitised so that they will be easily
accessible by the public of Western Australia, researchers at universities and,
of course, by industry itself. The library will capture the footprint of
information as well as biological data on flora and fauna.
The focus in the coming months will be to investigate the systems and
processes that are required to deliver a more intelligent database that will be
user friendly for the future and also to investigate linkages with existing
environmental databases that are already housed in the Department of Parks and
Wildlife—FloraBase and NatureMap. The database will capture that
information as well. When the database is completed, this information will
reduce costs for industry by removing unnecessary duplication in survey work.
In conclusion, I look forward to the gradual population of this
database as more and more mining companies lodge environmental applications on
projects. As we capture the information, we will be repopulating the database
of historical reports that have been done over the last 100 years.
update the house on where we are at with producing a state environmental data
library, the purpose of which is to ensure that all the data we have is
publicly available through an easily accessible portal and that it covers the
information that is already captured by my department, the Department of
Environment Regulation, the Environmental Protection Authority, the Department
of Water and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Much of this information is
collected when mining companies lodge environmental applications, so the data
comes from the resources sector. The construction of the data library is being
project managed by my department. The purpose of the data library is to ensure
that we do not duplicate the survey work that is undertaken by mining companies
in the environmental application process or repeat the production of
environmental surveys that have already been done. To date my department has
developed a prototype through extensive consultation with not only industry but
also the departments I have already mentioned. The data library builds on the
existing expertise and experience within the department. The department already
holds 100 000 reports and these will be digitised so that they will be easily
accessible by the public of Western Australia, researchers at universities and,
of course, by industry itself. The library will capture the footprint of
information as well as biological data on flora and fauna.
The focus in the coming months will be to investigate the systems and
processes that are required to deliver a more intelligent database that will be
user friendly for the future and also to investigate linkages with existing
environmental databases that are already housed in the Department of Parks and
Wildlife—FloraBase and NatureMap. The database will capture that
information as well. When the database is completed, this information will
reduce costs for industry by removing unnecessary duplication in survey work.
In conclusion, I look forward to the gradual population of this
database as more and more mining companies lodge environmental applications on
projects. As we capture the information, we will be repopulating the database
of historical reports that have been done over the last 100 years.
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