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Towards a European Shared Environmental Information System in

Support of Sustainable Policies

Presented by:

Meropi Paneli

ECOINFORMATICS- 2006

European Commission

Directorate-General Environment

Research, Science and Innovation Unit

Rue de la Loi, 200

1049 Brussels BELGIUM

Meropi.Paneli@cec.eu.int

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Policies Support To Develop…. To Implement … To Monitor ..

Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development , WSSD Johannesburg 2002

The Treaty on European Union The EU Sustainable Development Strategy The EU 6th Environmental Action Programme

Seven Thematic Strategies 1. Clean Air For Europe (CAFE) 2. Soil protection 3. Sustainable use of pesticides 4. Marine environment 5. Waste prevention and recycling 6. Sustainable use of natural resources 7. Urban environment

Four Priorities

1. Climate Change 2. Nature and Biodiversity3. Environment and Health4. Natural resources and waste

Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters

European Commission – DG Environment

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Information About …. ?

European Commission – DG Environment

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Measuring Progress…Sustainable Development Indicators

1. Economic development 2. Poverty and social exclusion3. Ageing society 4. Public Health5. Climate change and energy6. Production and consumption patterns7. Management of natural resources8. Transport 9. Good governance 10. Global partnership

EU level long-term SD indicators to monitorour economic development while protecting the

environment and meeting our social goals

- Eurostat -

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But…..but…..the problems with Env Dta Infra

data is : not sufficiently available, accessible, inter-operable and shared

across juridical and administrative boundaries.

not of sufficient or consistent quality, nor sufficiently up-to-date.

sometimes redundant or outdated because the nature of

problems have changed since the legislation was adopted.

Alongside the data itself, there are often considerable delays or redundancy in reporting and assessment.

European Commission – DG Environment

EU has islands of data of different standards and quality...

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Resulting in…..

difficulties with:- compliance assessment

- assessment of the state of the environment

- analysis of cause-effect relationships

design successful and cost-effective policy remedy measures.

- assessment of the environmental impact of other sector policies (transport, agriculture, cohesion, research etc.)

the cost-efficient integration of environmental concerns into those policies.

unnecessary administrative burden on Member States and Commission Services for data management and assessment, reporting and monitoring.

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The SEIS is to supportpolicy development, implementation and

monitoring at local, regional to global levels

The Challenge√ Improve availability and quality of information

needed to develop and implement Community environment policy

√ Reduce administrative burden on Member States

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What is the SEIS?

Infrastructure and rules to facilitate use of data by wide range of users

Cost-efficient monitoring to support reporting on indicators, risk and monitoring

Underpinned by legal requirements (well implemented)

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Achieving the Vision

Actions to establish infrastructures and rules

Actions to streamline monitoring

Actions to make legal requirements coherent

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Infrastructure and rules

Adoption of INSPIRE: commitment to sharing as a

foundation for further streamlining

Common architecture and tools for reporting:

coherence between different reporting sytems, better

exploiting technology and economies of scale

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INSPIRE will deliver … 2006-2013

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Structures at EU and Member State level to coordinate the practical implementation of the Infrastructure for Geo-Spatial Information in Europe.

Metadata concerning spatial data sets held by public authorities, for use in searching for and identifying available spatial data sets and the corresponding services.

A data Clearing House and electronic network, connecting distributed databases equipped with services, that allows anybody to query, view, access and use geo-spatial data sets held by public bodies and made available on a voluntary basis by third parties

A range of specifications for geo-spatial data sets and services helping spatial data sets to be used in a wider context

A data policy framework and a range of sharing agreements between public bodies ensuring that information is exchanged without barriers.

A framework for monitoring the implementation of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe

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INSPIRE will not … Impose the collection of spatial data Deliver integrated information services for particular

applications such as environmental reporting, risk management, environmental impact assessments, indicator development land-use planning etc.

INSPIRE

EEA Reportnet components

Example:

InstitutionalInstitutional frameworkframework

DataDataServicesServices

Fundamental Fundamental data setsdata sets

Technical Technical standardsstandards

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Actions to streamline monitoring

Key role of Thematic strategies and cross-cutting policies, e.g.

– Biodiversity: Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators

– Water Information System for Europe (WISE): to cover all water related

information

– Soil: framework for sharing and exchange of information

– Marine: improved knowledge based upon effective monitoring and

assessment – Environment-Health information system

Streamlining of indicators to make downstream monitoring more efficient

Support of 7th Framework Programme including Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)

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To result in:

√ streamlining of monitoring/reporting in upcoming policy proposals

√ possible proposal(s) to repeal/streamline reporting

√ make existing policies “SEIS-compliant” (e.g. WISE, CAFE)

European Commission – DG Environment

Actions to make legal requirements coherent

EEA monitoring review

Review of reporting requirements at international and community level

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Conclusions The EU is committed to the development of a

Shared Environmental Information System serving local to global needs

Some Major Challenges remain … Major regional and global initiatives face the

difficult challenge of co-ordination and coherent development

Sustained funding of operational data collection, RTD and usage capacities

More than technical issues …. Data policies and usage conditions risk to be major obstacles

European Commission – DG Environment