What Can Information Technology Do for Environmental Protection? .

Information technology plays an important role in the accomplishment of an effective environmental protection. Prerequisite for its comprehensive implementation is the legal and economic achievement of closed material cycles for supply and waste discharge in production and consumption as well as in nuclear technology. Modern information processing may be used for the inventory of natural and emission sources, to gain knowledge on the functioning mechanisms of nature, for the planning of a considerate exploitation of natural resources and for the ecology-oriented monitoring and control of industrial plants. The state of the art of the corresponding information technology and new areas of research especially in measurement technology are shown. The breadth of the great opportunities of information technology for environmental protection is described.