The project is designed as a trial project that explores the strengths and weaknesses of a regional and issue specific approach towards eParticipation. The project aims at supporting citizens and local actors to identify and solve important environmental problems related to the management of water and marine environmental protection in the French Riviera, Valencia and the Ionian Islands regions in order to enhance their participation in the environmental legislative and decision making processes. The local decision-makers as well as MPs will be able to ask for the citizens’ opinions in order to gather their feedback on a specific policy issue like River Basin Management Plans, Marine Strategy or Costal Zone Management. At the same time, citizens will be better informed about the EU water and marine environment policies as well as about their national water and marine environmental policies. Thus, they will be able to monitor the implementation of the EU legislation in their country. Furthermore, the project will create a framework for exchange and cooperation between Member States. In this way, the actions in the environmental sector will be made more coherent and the conservation of the marine ecosystems and sustainable water resource management will be supported.

The U@MARENOSTRUM Project will establish an eParticipation platform that will i nclude web-based Public Participation GIS which will capture all information on environmental issues on a geographical map.

Policy Context

Environmental policy is one area where there is a great deal of public support for action at a Europe-wide level. The 6th Environment Action Program of the European Community 2002-2012, is a decision of the European Parliament and the Council adopted on 22 July 2002. It sets out the framework for environmental policy-making in the European Union for the period 2002-2012 and outlines actions that need to be taken to achieve its goals. The 6th EAP stresses the importance of providing adequate environmental information and effective opportunities for public participation in environmental decision-making; thereby increasing accountability and transparency of decision-making and contributing to public awareness and support for the decisions taken. The effective engagement of citizens by governments rests on their recognition of access to environmental information as a basic precondition, consultation as central to policy-making and public participation as a relationship based on partnership. The new tools offered by ICTs can offer assistance in each of these domains. Their impact can also be greatly enhanced through use in combination with traditional, “offline” methods.

The pilot project entitled “U@MARENOSTRUM” aims to involve, thanks to ICT and GIS, citizens and local actors (associations) from the Mediterranean coastal zones in decision-making processes for the adoption and implementation of water and marine environmental protection policies and legislation in the Mediterranean region in accordance with EU environmental legislation. The project intends to advance the idea and use of eParticipation in environmental decision making by empowering citizens and local associations to use the state-of-the-art infrastructure in order to debate and engage in the implementation of EU environmental legislation.

Description of target users and groups

The system will facilitate, on the one hand, citizens and local actors by promoting their ability to participate in the decision-making process, and on the other, decision-makers in asking for specific input and viewing expressed opinions that are related to specific legal issues, strategies and plans of actions. End-users with limited knowledge of the subject, users with low level of IT skills or users with no experience in using web-based GIS applications are expected to use the U@MARENOSTRUM portal. Indicative target groups include decision-makers, citizens and local actors from France, Greece and Spain.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

The U@MARENOSTRUM Project will establish a web-based Public Participation GIS which will capture all information on environmental issues on a geographical map. Three regional administrative bodies from the Region on Ionian Islands (Greece), the French Riviera (France) and the Region of Valencia (Spain) will use the U@MARENOSTUM platform for a trial period of 14 months. That is why three platforms with a regional 'look and feel' (including language) will be developed to ensure user participation. The platforms will be specifically designed to serve the citizens of the participating regions, but citizens from other regions will be welcome to use the platforms, too.

During the trial period an editorial team will be in charge of the publication of the information on the website and of drafting summaries of the discussions within the participative processes. These summaries will be forwarded to relevant decision-makers at local, regional, national and EU level, in order to ensure that the legislative input created by participating citizens really reaches its addressees.
Within the project, a spatial database will be developed that will support access to geographical information resources. This spatial database will contain different types of information:

• Legal: referring to EU policy and national and local policies for water protection and management within the Mediterranean region, and more specifically, the Valencia, French Riviera and Ionian Islands costal zones.
• Environmental data related to water protection and management in the Mediterranean costal zone.

Furthermore, within the project, a study will be developed aiming to analyze the attitudes of the citizens from France, Spain and Greece regarding their participation in environmental decision-making and the laws, regulations, administrative provisions and practices related to the public participation in decision-making in environmental matters in these countries. The results of this study will help us identify the best ways to increase the participation of the citizens in our project

Extensive dissemination activities will be undertaken at a local, national and European level, in order to ensure appropriate interest in the project. These activities will be addressed to citizens, local associations, public and private institutions concerned about environmental issues and they will be realized in close cooperation with the projects funded under the same call so as to encourage the adoption of a common dissemination and raise awareness strategy.

Finally, an assessment of costs and benefits of the project will be a key activity that aims at measuring the further deployment of the project in different domains and hence its future exploitation.

Technology solution

The U@MARENOSTRUM platform will be created using Open Source technologies. The project encompasses the adoption of the existing Gov2demOSS platform with regard to the special requirements of the project. Gov2demOSS is an open source customized Joomla version under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE scheme. The generic nature of the Gov2DemOSS platform means that the software can be extensively customized to suit the respective needs of each individual administrator.

Technology choice: Open source software

Main results, benefits and impacts

1. Promote the concept of environmental democracy via the use of ICT;
2. Present new ways of effectively presenting information and communicating - promoting increased transparency in tracking legislation and decision making processes;
3. Introduce and test Public Participation GIS to manage geospatial boundary and statistical information that can support well-informed decisions for the management of water and marine environmental protection in the Mediterranean region;
4. Make EU environmental legislation accessible for everyone through electronic means;
5. Support citizens and local actors monitor the implementation of EU water and maritime environmental policies in the Mediterranean region;
6. Make it possible for citizens with limited knowledge of the subject area and low-level IT skills to profit from eParticipation tools.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

A press release was issued in the English language and it was translated in French, Greek, and Spanish. A contact list of media and environmental

magazines, from France, Greece, and Spain as well as from EU level was form

ed. The press release was sent by e-mail and fax, between 7 and 11 May, 2009, as follows:

§  7 May 2009: at Pan-European level: media from EU Member States , European environmental magazines, media from pan-European level (82 contacts)

§  6, 7 May 2009: to media and environmental magazines from France (79 contacts)

§  7, 8 May 2009: to media and environmental magazines from Greece (96 contacts)

§  8, 11 May 2009: to media and environmental magazines from Spain (115 contacts)

 

 

 

Lessons learnt

Implementation of the project only started.  Generally speaking, from the implementation of previous projects, it is clear that governments need to adapt their structures and processes to ensure that the results of online consultations are analyzed,disseminated and used.

Scope: Pan-European