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Early warning monitoring

Monitoring can be functionally divided into three types: environmental quality monitoring, policy implementation monitoring and early warning monitoring. Only early warning monitoring can be considered a policy instrument. The remaining types are environmental policy pre-requisites (see "Policy pre-requisites").

The main objective of early warning monitoring is to ensure responsible institutions and the public with prompt information and short-term forecasts about hazardous changes in the quality of the environment in order to allow for the effective abatement of threats to human health and ecosystem stability, and even the consequences of previous environmental mismanagement.

At present, early warning monitoring in Latvia is generally based on the environmental monitoring system. It is necessary to develop transboundary pollution monitoring systems to a greater extent, as well as local monitoring networks in dangerous areas and at hazardous sites (see "Transboundary pollution". and "Risks created by economic activities").

Monitoring in areas of increased danger is an instrument of vital importance to reduce the possibility of accidents or mitigate their consequences.

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Last updated: November 8, 1996. The information prepared by Valts Vilnitis: fuxis@varam.gov.lv