Innovative system to measure environmental impact of infrastructure projects presented jointly with CI

(Bogota, June 25, 2008).- The Andean Development Corporation and Conservation International (CI) presented in Colombia the Condor Program computing tool in web environment. The system uses specialized software (ArcGIS Server) to integrate environmental, social and economic variables and make possible the preliminary identification and evaluation of the risks and opportunities of infrastructure projects in Latin America, especially in the Andean region.

In projects already designed, this tool makes a prior evaluation of the most important environmental and social advantages and restrictions with the objective of providing instruments for decision-making and measures to control, mitigate, correct and/or compensate for the impacts created.

For projects still in early stages of conception, the system incorporates environmental and social considerations into the design and provides planning tools. As a result, the possibility of negative impacts on the environment and ecosystems is reduced, and the possibility of capitalizing opportunities in this area is increased.

Last April, the CONDOR program was awarded a prize by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the world’s leading company in the field of GIS, for the "best development of applications based on Geographic Information Systems and as a system that contributes to society and sets precedents for the work done in the regional geographic community."