Global Environment Monitoring System

B. GOSOVIC, London/New York 1992: Routledge. 368 pp.

The main body of this book contains a detailed description of the Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS). The author has placed this important collaborative effort in the context of the history of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The first fifty pages of this book present a detailed record of the development of UNEP. The reader receives many interesting pieces of information about the negotiations on the establishment of UNEP which took place after the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE). Those who are familiar with the current environmental negotiations will recognize that points of view have not changed much in two decades. Especially, negotiations that have started after the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Conference on Environment and Development show many similarities with the situation that faced the builders of UNEP in the early seventies. The main reason is that the North-South situation has not changed much in 20 years. Comparisons with regional negotiations are less obvious. In particular, those readers who would like to draw lessons for the negotiations under the Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transport of Air Pollution (LRTAP), are not likely to find many parallels between their acid rain abatement work and the UNEP/GEMS history.

A very interesting part of the analysis can be found in the preface to the book. The author briefly describes a number of factors that have influenced the shape of GEMS. These factors are of more general importance for those who deal with both the complicated structure of the bodies of the United Nations and those who are interested in the general issues of environmental monitoring. The author mentions:

● the underlying North-South tensions and differences between industrialized and developing countries also in terms of capabilities;

● the competition between UN bodies;

● the difference between scientific objectives of an environmental monitoring project and the management aspects of such a project;

● the tension between practical requirements of implementation (decentralization, simplification) and the essence of many environmental problems (integration, systems approach).

It is a pity that this book does not further develop the lessons learned from the GEMS expertise. Although several chapters address (sometimes in great detail) the above issues, generalization on other and similar efforts is lacking.

The GEMS system of monitoring is treated in five chapters, each describing particular parts of the system: health, climate, marine pollution, natural resources and integrated monitoring, and long-range transboundary pollution. This part of the book also contains a description of the Global Resource Information Database (GRID), an offspring of GEMS, and an evaluation of GEMS under the promising title, GEMS: inching towards a global system? The author makes a plea for broadening the scope of GEMS inter aliaby using remote sensing techniques. In passing he notes that the GEMS system never has been evaluated formally by outsiders, only an internal review has been carried out. It seems of utmost importance that such an external review should take place before broadening of GEMS can happen. Although the prospects of using remote sensing for environmental monitoring are good, the costs will be much higher than the amount spent on GEMS so far (US $15.7 million). Especially after the Rio conference, compliance with international treaties has become a major issue. A system based on GEMS has the potential to play an important role in compliance verification.

The third part of this book deals with a different topic. The author presents his ideas on how to change the UN system in a way that it becomes more effective. The advice presented is rather general because the author only provides a list of needs (like high professional quality, independent financing, continuous adaptation, committed participation of governments) for a better UN. He does not include ideas on how these needs could be fulfilled.

In conclusion, this book offers a good overview of both the history and operation of GEMS. Readers interested in the way international agencies operate will find many interesting details. The description of the various parts of GEMS is clear. However, the last two chapters in which the author attempts to draw conclusion for the UN as a whole do not present new ideas. Finally, it struck me that M.K. Tolba, a person who has been seen by many as the inspirer behind the UNEP and who has been its director until recently, is only mentioned in a footnote on page 188.

(Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie: Journal of Economic and Social

Geography. Vol. 85, Amsterdam: the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, 1994.)

2. Advances In Well Test Analysis

Robert C. Earlougher, Jr. Senior Research Engineer Marathon Oil Co.

The data in this monograph should enable the petroleum engineer to design, conduct, and analyze pressure transient tests to obtain reliable information about reservoir and well conditions. Each chapter is, as nearly as possible, an independent unit. For completeness, Chapter 1 includes a short discussion of unit conversion factors and the SI (metric) unit system. Appendix A provides a list of conversion factors and a tabulation of some of the more important equations in oilfield units, groundwater units, and three sets of metric units.

Chapter 2 is a summary of transient fluid flow behavior and sets the stage for all transient test analysis procedures in the text. The approach is a pragmatic one that provides the reader with material to derive methods of test analysis and to calculate expected transient response in wells. Since recent advances have modified some older methods, we attempt to integrate and present what appears to be best current engineering practice. Many research studies, invaluable in themselves for providing insight or cross-checks on the validity of other work, are not necessarily suitable for direct field application. Others, although complex, provide ways to estimate important reservoir properties. In situations where only minor differences in accuracy would result by using simpler methods, preference has been given to the simpler method. Nevertheless, test analysis procedures in the monograph may be used without complete understanding of Chapter 2. Appendix В presents a detailed theoretical treatment o f the use of superposition to generate new solutions that may be useful to some readers. Appendix С presents a wide range of dimensionless solutions incorporating various geometries and boundary conditions.

The chapters describing basic testing and analysis techniques utilize the flow theory of Chapter 2, but otherwise stand alone. Since the primary thrust of the monograph is toward the practicing engineer, an effort has been made to set bounds and define the range of applicability of various solutions or techniques. Chapter 3 covers pressure drawdown testing, the most theoretically simple form of pressure transient testing. It also introduces type-curve matching. That relatively new (to the petroleum industry) approach allows the engineer to effectively use more sophisticated transient solutions incorporating wellbore storage effects, deep fracturing, complex boundary conditions, etc., when simpler analysis techniques are not applicable.

Chapter 4 covers multiple-rate testing and discusses how superposition may be used where variable rates are involved. Chapter 5 treats pressure buildup test analysis; and Chapter 6 presents methods for estimating average pressure for well drainage areas and the entire reservoir. Chapter 7 deals with injection well testing, a matter of ever-increasing importance. Chapter 8 discusses drillstem test analysis.

Chapter 9 gives transient testing techniques utilizing more than one well. Chapter 10 covers the effects of reservoir heterogeneities on pressure behavior. Chapter 11 provides more detailed information on the effects of wellbore storage and induced fractures on pressure transient behavior. Chapter 12 briefly discusses computer methods; and Chapter 13 considers design and instrumentation of pressure transient tests.

Appendix D presents methods and correlations for estimating many reservoir rock and fluid properties; and Appendix E summarizes well test analysis equations.

(Henry L. Doherty Memorial Fund Of AIME Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME. New York: Dallas, 1977.)

3. Green Development

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