Challenges of eEnvironment

Abstract

The White paper of eEnvironment was elaborated by the Ad hoc Committee on eDemocracy of the Council of Europe (CAHDE) in 2007. The Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)1 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on electronic democracy (e-Democracy) specified eEnvironment in more details. The objective is that any citizen can be informed about environmental matters and can use this information for active participation in decision making and environmental protection. Now, eEnvironment is one of the fundaments of eDemocracy and the member of its eFamily like eParticipation and eGovernment. The Commission proposed a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) by the Communication COM(2008) 46 final in 2008, where it provides the technological and organisation basis for eEnvironment. In 2005 the i2010 strategy: “A European Information Society for growth and employment” was launched by the Commission. One of the objectives was to establish a Single European Information Space offering high-bandwidth communications, rich content and digital services with a marketoriented regulatory framework. During the preparation of EU’s 7th Framework Programme, DG Information Society & Media proposed the development of a Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment (SISE) in 2007. The development of SISE is essential for the support of the development of implementation information and communication technologies (ICT) tools for the SEIS. The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) initiative of the Commission is one standardisation basis of eEnvironment, which intends to trigger the creation of a European spatial information infrastructure that delivers to the users integrated spatial information services. Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative represents a concerted effort to bring data and information providers together with users, so they can better understand each other and make environmental and security-related information available to the people who need it through new enhanced services. The Commission, itself an important user of GMES, was assigned to coordinate user requirements and identify and develop services relying both on in-situ and remote sensing data needed fro eEnvironment. Thus, GMES realisation could substantially support the development of environmental data monitoring tools for SEIS in collaboration with the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which seeks to connect the producers of environmental data and decision-support ICT tools with the end users of these products, with the aim of enhancing the relevance of Earth observations to global issues. The end result of GEOSS is to be a global public infrastructure that generates comprehensive, near-real-time environmental data, information and analyses for a wide range of eEnvironment users. In the paper an outline of eEnvironment is given. Its history is presented and problems and challenges of eEnvironment development directions are discussed. Therefore, there are presented how the i2010 strategy and SISE with synergies of SEIS, GMES and GEOSS with using INSPIRE standards and Aarhus Convention clearing house ideas are aiming to European ICT infrastructure for eEnvironemnt in which environmental data and information will be combined with knowledge for decision support to foster environmental protection and sustainable development.