USE OF INFORMATION AND COMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FOR ENVIRONMENT IN TEHRAN G. Asadollahfardi, S.Shokri & M. Jafarian Introduction Tehran is amongst a few capitals in the world, which is not located around the river or even close to sea. Mountains surround the City from the North and East. Figure 1 shows the situation of Tehran; the city is divided into 22 districts. The total area of the city is about 700km ².Ther are four accurate seasons, with the annual rainfall at about 230 mm.The annual mean temperature is 17˚c. The highest temperature is 39˚c in summer and -6˚c in winter.The annual mean humidity is 40% and the highest monthly mean humidity in summer and -6˚c in winter.The annual mean humidity is 40% and the highest monthly mean humidity is 65% in January and the lowest one is 24% in July and August. (Asadollahfardi 2001) is 65% in January and the lowest one is 24% in July and August. (Asadollahfardi 2001) In this report Authors, tried to show a picture of existing situation of ICT in Tehran, its related difficulties and future actions.

Existing situation of ICT For preparing air quality information for public awareness and decision makers in Tehran, there are two centers which are as follows : 1) Information dissemination and coordination centre for air pollution information 2) Municipality of Tehran established Air quality control company (AQCC) in This is a research company involved in presentation of countermeasures to improve air quality in Tehran. The AQCC, the Department of Environment (the DoE), Metrological Organization and Ministry of hygiene, Treatment and Medicine Education have twelve online air quality monitoring stations and metrological stations which are as follows: The AQCC, the Department of Environment (the DoE), Metrological Organization and Ministry of hygiene, Treatment and Medicine Education have twelve online air quality monitoring stations and metrological stations which are as follows: : AQCC four air quality stations DoE eight air quality stations Ministry of hygiene, Treatment and medicine education, one air quality station Metrological Organization, three metrological stations The maps which show rate of some air pollution parameters are generated from using information that are provided from mentioned stations in mathematical models. The map and diagram are sent to web site of AQCC, therefore, people of each part of Tehran are able to see air quality situation of their districts. The website provide some facilities as follows :

–Pollutant Dispersion Through Tehran Date: Saturday, December 4, 2004 Air Quality data update daily at 12:00 PM Figure 1: Map of 22 districts area of Tehran lest District District1 2District 3District 4District 5District 6District 7District 8District 9District 10District 11District District 12 13District 14District 15District 16District 17District 18District 19District 20District 21District 22District

Air Quality ConditionPSI Good0 – 50 Moderate50 – 100 Unhealthy100 – 200 Very Unhealthy200 – 300 Hazardous> 300 4,2004 Saturday, December CO = Carbon Monoxide O 3 = Ozone SO 2 = Sulfur Dioxide NO 2 = Nitrogen Dioxide PM-10 = Particulate Matter

According to regulations and laws some ministries and organizations must work together if the air quality situation reaches to following situation: 1) Warning condition 1) Warning condition 2) Emergency condition 2) Emergency condition 3) Critical condition 3) Critical condition Metrological organization predicts inversion of temperature and air pollution 48 hours before its occurrence and announce to: 1) Ministry of Hygiene, Treatment, and Medicine education 1) Ministry of Hygiene, Treatment, and Medicine education 2) Ministry of internal,and province of Tehran 2) Ministry of internal,and province of Tehran 3) Department of environment (DoE) and directorate of DoE in Tehran 3) Department of environment (DoE) and directorate of DoE in Tehran The AQCC and The DoE which are mentioned previously, have online monitoring stations for air The AQCC and The DoE which are mentioned previously, have online monitoring stations for air pollution They monitor rate of the air pollution for every six hours and immediately send the result to Ministry of Hygiene, Treatment and Medicine education and metrological organization. Air quality committees immediately hold a meeting and discuss about the result of the amount of air pollution then they compute air quality index consequently, they send air quality index to the DoE and Metrological Organization. The results will be as follows: pollution They monitor rate of the air pollution for every six hours and immediately send the result to Ministry of Hygiene, Treatment and Medicine education and metrological organization. Air quality committees immediately hold a meeting and discuss about the result of the amount of air pollution then they compute air quality index consequently, they send air quality index to the DoE and Metrological Organization. The results will be as follows: 100 ≤ PSI ≤ 250 warning conditions 250 ≤ PSI ≤350 emergency condition PSI ≥ 350 critical condition Whenever air quality reaches to warning,emergency or critical conditions, the information dissemination and coordination centre for air pollution information announce situation to DoE, internal ministry, observation and contribution committee (this committees consist of representatives of the DoE,Ministry of Internal, Ministry of Hygiene,Treatment, and Medicine education, and Metrological Organization). The mentioned committee supervised by head of Tehran province hold a meeting and discuss about problem, the decisions of the committee are immediately sent to Radio and Television, websites of AQCC and Metrological Organization.According to law and regulations the organization of Radio and Television must announce to people of Tehran. Whenever air quality reaches to warning,emergency or critical conditions, the information dissemination and coordination centre for air pollution information announce situation to DoE, internal ministry, observation and contribution committee (this committees consist of representatives of the DoE,Ministry of Internal, Ministry of Hygiene,Treatment, and Medicine education, and Metrological Organization). The mentioned committee supervised by head of Tehran province hold a meeting and discuss about problem, the decisions of the committee are immediately sent to Radio and Television, websites of AQCC and Metrological Organization.According to law and regulations the organization of Radio and Television must announce to people of Tehran.

Information dissemination and coordination centre for air pollution information has four representatives from following ministries and organizations: Municipality of Tehran The DoE Metrological Organization Ministry of hygiene, Treatment, and Medicine Education In mentioned project integrated information from related ministry and organization were one of the difficulty.Second, Quality Assurance and Quality Control are still others problem. Financial support of ICT project Municipality of Tehran prepared building for the centre and necessary equipments for meetings for public awareness and website. Media are able to contact directly with this centre and collect information and announce to people of Tehran and publish in daily newspapers ICT activities are funded by the DoE, municipality of Tehran, and metrological organization. Financial of ICT activities fully are funded by the city. Limitation of digital divide Considering the limitation of the digital divide and the DoE priority, the integrate master plan of ICT in the DoE depending on national facilities in field of ICT are suggested. Key points of the ICT program of the DoE are as follows: 1) Development of network infrastructure with maximum usage of national network data and national governmental network in areas which are accessible, and usage of satellite communication network and wireless system in others areas. 2) Development of local network (LAN) in areas in which Iran does not have network facility or strengthening it in areas which network is not completed. 3) Designing and implementing portal environment for organizing easy accessible to information in field of environment. 4) Considering data which are mostly produced from other governmental organizations, the DoE intends to design software to collect data from other centers

Significant of ICT activities High present of people in Tehran are young and educated There are facilities of radio and television, satellite internet, mobile phone, etc.Every days number of the facilities and equipments increase. Young people tend to use the mentioned facilities; equipments and other Communication Technology.Hence, use of ICT can important role for public awareness and education for urban environment protection. Because of difficulty situation of air pollution in Tehran, according to law related ministries and organization have duties relation to support the DoE for reduction of air pollution. In this regard, one of the important factors to improve air quality is public awareness and education. A suitable tool for effectiveness of public awareness is the use of ICT. Because of difficulty situation of air pollution in Tehran, according to law related ministries and organization have duties relation to support the DoE for reduction of air pollution. In this regard, one of the important factors to improve air quality is public awareness and education. A suitable tool for effectiveness of public awareness is the use of ICT. Future Actions Future actions in Tehran considering the applying of ICT for air pollution management are as follows: Future actions in Tehran considering the applying of ICT for air pollution management are as follows: 1) AQCC and Meteorological Organization will start a ICT project in order to predict next 24 hours air pollution therefore the result will be sent to the AQCC website and will be announce every day by Radio and Television and will be published in newspapers. 2) UNISCAP and IGES will start an extended pilot project of ICT in Tehran. 3) The DoE has installation of eighteen online air quality monitoring stations under construction which loaned by World Bank

Lesson learned from experiments The ICT project is attractive and interesting for a lot of expert people from Iranian universities. Every day many people see the website and aware about air quality and other activities in the AQCC and Metrological Organization Iran has been successful in applying computer for solving local problems, but there have been some problems in relation between governmental centers and usage of network facilities it is believed that these problems the product of lack of infrastructure facilities in the country. Conclusion ICT can be one of the suitable tools for public awareness, education and improving air quality situations ICT can be one of the suitable tools for public awareness, education and improving air quality situations Asian and Pacific Ocean countries should work and help each others for reducing the limitation of digital divide. Asian and Pacific Ocean countries should work and help each others for reducing the limitation of digital divide. UNESCAP and government of Japan (IGES) can have significant effects to transfer technology of IT in the field of environment to Asian and Pacific Ocean countries UNESCAP and government of Japan (IGES) can have significant effects to transfer technology of IT in the field of environment to Asian and Pacific Ocean countries