An investigation of environmental information systems practices in Kenya

Abstract

Increasing globalization and a focus on sustainable development is forcing governments to rethink their environmental information systems that produce information for decision making. There is thus recognition that environmental information has a role to play in decision-making on matters related to sustainable development. In addition many donor-funded projects In Kenya require mandated institutions to start thinking about developing environmental information systems capable of producing environmental information efficiently. The objective of this study therefore was to carry out a survey on what the current environmental information systems practices are, as well as to document some of the challenges in their implementation. A judgmental sample of 60 professionals from 35 institutions, which comprised relevant government departments, semi government institutions and non-governmental organizations, formed part of the sample. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis specifically to determine the frequencies, percentages and proportions in an attempt to ascertain to what extent the institutions of the sample have adopted various environmental information system variables. The conclusions arrived at indicate that according to Nolan's model, Kenya is at the control stage of Environmental Information systems development in most of the institutions. Further, a majority of the institutions mainly focused on the Information technology aspects as opposed to other areas such as information management, capacity building and issues to do with data sources. This disproportionate focus has resulted in ineffective environmental information systems in most of these institutions.