eEnvironment: Reality and challenges for eEnvironment implementation in Europe

Abstract

The White Paper on eEnvironment introduced the content of eEnvironment at the Ad hoc Committee on eDemocracy of the Council of Europe 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 detail. 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 pillars of eDemocracy and a member in the "eFamily" like eParticipation and eGovernment. The paper describes the reality and challenges for eEnvironment implementation with respect to the Digital Agenda for Europe and the European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015. Furthermore it formulates some ideas for embedding eEnvironment in a Shared Environmental Information System and linked it to the vision of a Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.