Environmental Management Plans (EMP) are used to guide the development of agriculture, industry, infrastructure and urban areas to avoid valuable and sensitive ecosystem and protect them for the future. This can only be done after detailed environmental monitoring and mapping. At the project level, monitoring and mapping of ecosystems is a necessary first step in an EIA. It allows the adjustment of the project design to avoid undesirable impacts and to minimise the need for mitigation measures. COWI has planned and managed monitoring and mapping for a wide range of project types. Typical monitoring studies are:
COWI has developed specific expertise in planning and managing environmental monitoring in the terrestrial, freshwater and marine environment. The data are registered in standard databases and GIS. Satellite and aerial image analysis is used to extend the land-based surveys. GIS is used to prepare maps and to rank environmental values and sensitivities of the habitats by analysing the overlapping layers of environmental parameters such as species, coverage, landscape, soil, human activities etc.