Nature GIS network and European policies of Sustainable Development

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Nature GIS network and European policies of
Sustainable Development Environment

• J.F.Dallemand,
• European Commission,
• Joint Research Centre,
• Institute for Environment and Sustainability
• Land Management Unit
• http//ies.jrc.cec.eu.int/

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Introduction Background/Sustainable Development

• Sustainable development definition
• G.O.Brundtland, 1987, World Commission on
  Environment Sustainability
• Development that meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own needs (Our Common
  Future).
• UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD,
  1995-2000)
• Objective Monitoring of Agenda 21
• (40 chapters, 100 programme areas, 3000
  recommendations)
• Four main categories to be monitored
• Social, economic, environmental, institutionnal
• Main themes (Environment)
• Freshwater/groundwater, agriculture/secure food
  supply, urban, coastal zone,
• Marine environment, fisheries, biodiversity/biotec
  hnology,
• sustainable forest management, air pollution and
  ozone depletion,
• global climate change/sea level rise,
• sustainable use of natural resources,
• sustainable tourism, land use change.

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• European Union Policy of Sustainable development
• From Rio 1992 to Johannesburg 2002 (World Summit
  on Sustainable Development) Rio 10
• Communication from the Commission A sustainable
  Europe for a better world a European Union
  strategy for sustainable development, May 2001
• Proposal of headlines objectives e.g climate
  change/clean energy/
• public health/natural resources
  management/transport system land use management
• Conclusions of Gotheborg European Council June
  2001
• ..
• European Parliament Draft Report Towards a
  global partnership for sustainable development
  (April 2002)
• European Parliament Barcelona Summit, Resolution
  for follow-up of Gothenburg (February 2002)
• .
• Environmental integration a priority of the 6th
  Environment Action Programme (Environment 2010
  Our Future, our Choice)

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• Nature GIS and European Union Environmental
  Policy
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/environment/index_en.htm
  
• Environmental integration a priority of the 6th
  Environment Action Programme (Environment 2010
  Our Future, our Choice)
• Strategic and long term approach focusing on the
  following key areas
  
  
• Improving the implementation of existing
  environmental legislation,
• Integrating environmental concerns across all
  other policies,
• - Working more closely with the market and
  industry,
• - Influencing citizens behaviour and action
  through better quality and access to
  environmental information,
• - Supporting better land use planning and
  management decisions, including (in future) the
  environmental assessment not only of projects but
  also of land-use plans and programmes.
•  A theme running through this Action Programme is
  the need for better indicators and geographic
  information to monitor policy and raise
  awareness.

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• Water Policy/Directive 2000/60/EC of the 23rd
  October 2000
• - Framework for Community action in the field of
  water policy.
• Strong spatial impact as it defines river basins
  as the most appropriate spatial framework
• for a comprehensive approach to water protection.
  
• - Art. 3 Member States shall identify
  individual river basins lying within their
  national territory,
• and for the purpose of this Directive shall
  assign them to individual river basin districts
• - Such basins will include not only surface
  waters but also ground-waters and coastal
  waters,
• assigned to the nearest or most appropriate river
  basin or district.
• Further, Art 3.4 states that for the achievement
  of the environmental objectives of this
  Directive,
• All programmes and measures are coordinated for
  the whole of the river basin,
• and a competent authority is assigned the
  responsibility for the implementation of the
  Directive.
• - For each river basin, management plan to be
  prepared within nine years from the entry into
  force of the Directive.
• - Names of the main rivers within the river basin
  district together with a precise description of
  the boundaries
• of the river basin district should as far as
  possible be available for introduction into a
  geographic information system
• (GIS) and/or the geographic information system of
  the Commission (GISCO).
• The data collected to characterize each surface
  water body has also to be submitted to the
  Commission
• on maps in GIS format , including data on
  environmental pressures in the basin, and
  impacts.

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Integrated Coastal Zone Management COM(2000)547
and COM(2000)545 identify an integrated
territorial approach to Coastal Management as
the way forward. The territorial approach taken
is illustrated in COM(2000)547, which states
that - With the objective of encouraging
balanced and integrated territorial management,
the Commission will continue to encourage the
application of the political conclusions
contained in the European Spatial Development
Perspective (ESDP) in the implementation of
actions financed through the Structural Funds
and particularly through the Community
Initiative INTERREG programme. - The Commission
will work with the Member States to support the
application of the ESDP, including integrated
spatial planning and management across
administrative, natural and socio-economic units.
In order to adequately address the specific
needs of the coastal zone, in applying the ESDP,
Member States should include coastal waters.
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Nature Protection Natura 2000 web site
http//europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/natu
ra.htm - The main EU legislation in terms of
nature protection are the Birds Directive
(79/409/EEC) and the Habitat Directive
(92/43/EEC). The latter, in Art 3 states that
A coherent European ecological network of
special areas of conservation shall be set up
under the title Natura 2000. - Article 6 sets
out provisions which govern the conservation and
management of Natura 2000 sites. - Article 6 is
important (24 articles), being the one which
clearly determines the relationship between
conservation and land use. - The territorial
impact of NATURA2000 is significant as the
network when complete will include between
12,000 and 15,000 sites covering up to10 of the
territory of the Union. JRC-DG ENV Cooperation
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The Aarhus Convention
          
The Aarhus Convention on Access to information,
public participation and access to justice in
environmental matters has as main objective to
raise public awareness of environmental concerns
by promoting access to information and
participation in the decision-making process.
It proposes the development of environmental
legislation, making it more effective and sharing
responsibility between the various players
involved all require greater public awareness of
environmental problems. At the 1995 Environment
for Europe Ministerial Conference in Sofia, the
participants stressed the need for increased
public participation in environment policy, and
so adopted the Guidelines on access to
environmental information and public
participation in environmental decision-making,
in line with Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development. The Convention
is designed to help protect the right of every
person of present and future generations to live
in an environment adequate to his or her health
and well-being.
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Global Monitoring for Environment Security
(GMES) http//gmes.jrc.it/ Joint Implementation
Strategy and Action Plan INSPIRE The
INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in Europe
initiative Vision, objective, Approach, Expert
Group, Working Groups www.ec-gis.org/inspire/ DG
INFSO Proposed Directive on Public Sector
Information www.cordis.lu/econtent/psi/psi_policy.
htm Questions on Nature GIS target EU Policy
definition, implementation, monitoring
? European, National, Regional, Local ?