1 OpenForum 2003, Santa Fe Environment: Ecoinformatics – Track A “Depicting Environmental Conditions – Ecoinformatics for the European Union and Accession Countries” Gordon McInnes Interim Executive Director European Environment Agency

2 Mandate - the Agency Regulation With the objective of providing relevant, reliable and timely information to the Community, Member States and the public to support policy-making and assessment on the environment and sustainable development Sets up the EEA and the EIONET Defines a task list with 15 tasks Establishes governance Opens up the Agency to non-EU countries

3 Development of the EEA Regulation adopted in 1990 Location in Copenhagen, Denmark decided in 1993 Work started in : 80 staff, 18 countries, 19.6Meuro budget 2003: 125 staff, 31 countries, 27.6Meuro budget

4 European Union CommissionParliamentCouncil National nominees, 1-2 per Member State Public representativesNational heads of state and governments + national ministers Has right to initiate draft legislation Executive body Guardian of the Treaties Supported by Commission Services (civil servants) Co-legislator with Council Shares budgetary authority with Council Supervises Commission Co-legislator with the Parliament Shares budgetary authority with Parliament Coordinates activities of Member State Concludes international agreement on behalf of the EU 15 Member States in Member States in 2004

EEA members and other countries cooperating with EEA of January 2003 EEA member countries EEA candidate countries O MT LI GI

6 Governance Management Board 1 rep/member country 2 European Parliament 2 European Commission Scientific Committee Executive Director EEA Bureau

7 Information Pyramid Knowledge Assessment Indicators Data Monitoring Bottom-upTop-down

8 Information Pyramid Knowledge Assessment Indicators Data Monitoring Bottom-upTop-down Indicator management, Factsheets Integrated environmental assessment Guidelines, manuals, repositories DEMs Databases, data warehouses Access, dissemination, GEMET, EDEN Frameworks Reports

9 Elements of the European environment information and observation network (EIONET) ETC ETC EEA ETC NFPs NRCs MCEs European Topic Centres National Focal Points National Reference Centres Main Component Elements National level European level

10 Environmental issues and related sectors Environment issues –Air pollution –Climate change –Water Stress –Nature/Biodiversity –Terrestrial environment –Waste/material flows –Chemicals –Technological/natural risks Sectors –Transport –Energy –Agriculture –Tourism –Fisheries –Industry –Households

11 New European Topic Centres Water Air and Climate Change Waste and Material Flows Terrestrial environment Biodiversity and Nature Protection

12 What are the policy questions? KWhat do we need to Know? AWhat Assessments are needed? IWhat Indicators are needed? DWhat Data is needed at European level? MWhat Monitoring is needed to deliver required data

13 Indicators are chosen to answer policy questions Type A: “What is happening?” Environmental state and quality Type B: “Does it matter?” Performance indicators Type C: “Are we improving our processes?” Eco-efficiency indicators Type D: "Are polices working?" Measure of policy effectiveness

14 Climate Change Policy United Nations UN Framework Climate Change Convention Kyoto Protocol European Union Sustainable Development Strategy Climate Change Strategy Sixth Environmental Action Programme Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism

15 Reporting obligations 1.To check compliance (including legal transposition and practical implementation) 2.To assess state and trends in the environment in order to monitor progress 3.To evaluate policy effectiveness

16 What do we need to know? Is the European Union progress in the implementation of agreed policies on greenhouse emissions enough to reach Kyoto targets?

17 EU greenhouse gas emission trends A policy-relevant, analytical sound and measurable indicator Additional measures required to reach target Transport emissions likely to increase significantly

18 Distance in 2000 to burden sharing target path

19 Shared EEIS information Elements of the shared European Environmental Information System International institutions National institutions Users Shared EIONET information Information Infrastructure EEA EIONET Decision makers, informed public, general public User access GMET, EDEN, shared tools Other Networks Other organisations

20 transparent information management Common validation and aggregation harmonised collection policy relevant assessments provide once use many Principles of Shared European Environment Information System (EEIS)

21 Functions to be covered by Reportnet tools

22 Information Pyramid Knowledge Assessment Indicators Data Monitoring Bottom-upTop-down Indicator management, Factsheets Integrated environmental assessment Guidelines, manuals, repositories DEMs Databases, data warehouses Access, dissemination, GEMET, EDEN Framework Reports

23 EEA European Environment Agency Copenhagen · Denmark