Text & photo by Maricar Reyes-Hina

             The Bataan Provincial Government in cooperation with the  Bataan Coastal Care Foundation and the UNOPS/ PEMSEA Resource Facility, implementing the Bataan Integrated Coastal Management Program (BICMP), conducted a three-day training/ workshop on integrated information management system or IIMS on 16-18 June 2008 in Balanga City.

             The IIMS for Coastal and River Basin Management is a desktop database application, which manages a relational database of environmental data. It will provide timely data recording and updating of information for management and technological intervention, and to facilitate date sharing via the internet. The software also enables storage, display, query and report generation of environmental data and is capable of viewing and producing graphical presentation.

 
            Participants of the workshop include the staff of the Project Management Office (PMO), representatives from the PPDO, PG-ENRO, OPA, PENRO-DENR and MISO.

 
            The computer unit is housed in the PMO and supported by the server from MISO. The IIMS will be linked with geographical information system (GIS) and will also be web-based.

 
            Data collection is the most tedious part of creating an IIMS database because of its accuracy, accessibility, and availability. One must consider the quality, reliability and timeliness of data.

We are targeting the end of October 2008 for the completion and operation of IIMS in the province. Updating and maintenance of the system will be done by the PMO and MISO.

 
            A similar system is already in place at the Environmental Management Bureau for Manila Bay. You can check out their website at http://iims.emb.gov.ph for more information.