NEOM Environment Monitoring Framework
GPC supports NEOM Environmental Department to collect, manage, apply, and deliver environmental data and information products to both internal and external stakeholders.
The NEOM Environmental Monitoring Framework (EMF) is a framework to develop comprehensive environmental accounting and trend analysis programs. The objective is to comprehensively monitor current and projected environmental data parameters that are needed to effectively manage the environment of NEOM. The framework is to be used as a reference to assist in the design and development of future environmental monitoring programs in a systematic and integrated manner that acknowledges the full range of policies, plans and operational activities that require such information, rather than one specific purpose.
The structure of the EMF has been designed to build on and support the DPSIR (Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact Response) analytical method that underlies the NEOM State of Environment reporting process. This structure provides the logic for the monitoring of the “state” of natural environmental factors such as air quality, water quality, biodiversity, and others, while also the monitoring of the drivers and pressures that influence changes in that state, both negative and positive. The majority of drivers/pressures are not under the direct control of the Environment Department, but by including them here the intention is to highlight the importance of monitoring those activities as input to a living “SMART SoE” that can be used to maintain a continuous accounting of the causative factors as the basis for holistic analysis, mutual understanding of impacts and opportunities and coordinated intervention responses across the NEOM community. Ideally the responsibility for facilitating such coordination would be supported through either the NEOM Sustainability Committee or the final governance model that comes out of the NEOM Sustainability Strategy (currently under development).
How GPC Empowers the Client
The NEOM Environmental Monitoring Framework (EMF) was focused on the development of a comprehensive accounting and trend analysis of the full range of current and projected environmental data parameters that are needed to effectively manage the environment of NEOM in a manner that is consistent with its objectives and aspirations. The framework is to be used as a reference to assist in the design and development of future environmental monitoring programs in an integrated manner that acknowledges the full range of policies, plans and operational activities that require such information, rather than one specific purpose. It was also intended to identify potential interdependencies among them that may also affect monitoring investment or management decision making. This is intended to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of NEOM’s environmental monitoring investments and to increase collaboration and coordination across administrative units.
The Bottom Line
- Proposed NEOM Environmental Monitoring Framework that aligns environmental data requirements across NEOM Environment Divisions and across and monitoring programs (i.e. optimization of data collection based on aligned requirements).
- Proposed data collection programs based on THEMES, NEEDS, or other appropriate constructs (see working themes above), and alignment to the relevant Department Divisions (or government partners).
About Our Customer
Customer
The NEOM development project is intended to develop the NEOM area at an unprecedented rate. Approximately 95% of the NEOM region’s 26,500 square kilometer area (roughly the size of Belgium) is to remain in a natural state and the remaining 5% to be developed will support a built environment modelled around circular economy principles with “sustainability by design” as a core objective. The Environment Department is responsible for ensuring the wise and sustainable use of resources, the protection, conservation and/or “re-wilding” of the region’s incredible natural environment and the protection of environmental health, safety, and environmental sustainability within the built environment. The department will soon become a “Nature Authority” as part of the transition to a quasi-government regulatory entity within a NEOM Special Economic Zone (SEZ). It is well recognized that accomplishing this mission will require an effective and well-structured program for measuring and monitoring the baseline and continued state of the environment across NEOM, understanding the drivers, pressures, and impacts of human activities on those systems over time, and participating in the multi-disciplinary, cross-sector responses and coordinated interventions that will be required to effectively manage a truly sustainable NEOM region.
Challenge
The continuous change of Nature Authority responsibilities and organization chart.
Benefits or Results
The project provided an overview of the EMF Conceptual Structure, the specific monitoring elements that are the direct responsibility of the Environment Department, and the identification of interdependent monitoring elements that should be captured by others within NEOM to support the sustainability aspirations of the organization. EMF report outlined the types of data to be collected and monitored, and the NEOM Data Collection Programs Report focused on how the data are to be collected at a programmatic level. This was intended to support the process of designing and implementing the collection and monitoring of environmental data, inclusive of data that are needed by the Environment Department but are under the custodianship of others.