Keywords
eEnvironment, environmental information, aarhus convention, edemocracy, egovernment, inspire, gmes, seis, sise (single information space in europe for the environment)
Start Date
1-7-2008 12:00 AM
Abstract
The Ad hoc Committee on eDemocracy of the Council of Europe (CAHDE) was established and started its work at September 2006. Its second plenary meeting was held in Strasbourg on October 2007, where the White paper of eEnvironment (Electronic access to Environmental information) was presented. Its fundamental ideas were prepared during discussion on the workshop Seamless Access to Environmental Information in the EU - Building an Integrated Information Space for the Environment of the conference EnviroInfo 2007 in Warsaw. The eEnvironment basis is the Aarhus Convention, which is implemented in the European Community and supported by the EU Directives: 2003/4/EC (Public Access to Environmental Information); 2003/35/EC (Public Participation); 2003/98/EC (Re-use of Public Sector Information) and 2007/2/EC (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community). The eEnvironment is going to be one of the fundaments of eDemocracy. The Communication COM(2008) 46 final (Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS)) will provide the basis for any citizen to be informed about environmental matters and to use this information for active participation in decision making. Further, it will be develop a Single Information Space for Europe in the Environment (SISE) specified in the Experts Consultation Workshop at Brussels on 15 February 2008. The SISE together with the SEIS will provide some sort of integrated information space in which environmental data and information will be combined with knowledge for a decision support of environmental protection and sustainable development. This will enable a deeper vision of eDemocracy and it allows for different types of environmental data and information processing that is not currently possible. Thus, eEnvironment fully supports the principles of eDemocracy and its new trends will be further discussed in detail in the paper.
Current Trends in eEnvironment and its Role in eDemocracy
The Ad hoc Committee on eDemocracy of the Council of Europe (CAHDE) was established and started its work at September 2006. Its second plenary meeting was held in Strasbourg on October 2007, where the White paper of eEnvironment (Electronic access to Environmental information) was presented. Its fundamental ideas were prepared during discussion on the workshop Seamless Access to Environmental Information in the EU - Building an Integrated Information Space for the Environment of the conference EnviroInfo 2007 in Warsaw. The eEnvironment basis is the Aarhus Convention, which is implemented in the European Community and supported by the EU Directives: 2003/4/EC (Public Access to Environmental Information); 2003/35/EC (Public Participation); 2003/98/EC (Re-use of Public Sector Information) and 2007/2/EC (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community). The eEnvironment is going to be one of the fundaments of eDemocracy. The Communication COM(2008) 46 final (Towards a Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS)) will provide the basis for any citizen to be informed about environmental matters and to use this information for active participation in decision making. Further, it will be develop a Single Information Space for Europe in the Environment (SISE) specified in the Experts Consultation Workshop at Brussels on 15 February 2008. The SISE together with the SEIS will provide some sort of integrated information space in which environmental data and information will be combined with knowledge for a decision support of environmental protection and sustainable development. This will enable a deeper vision of eDemocracy and it allows for different types of environmental data and information processing that is not currently possible. Thus, eEnvironment fully supports the principles of eDemocracy and its new trends will be further discussed in detail in the paper.
