In September 2024, the newly launched Horizon Europe initiative, ENFORCE (Empower Citizens to Join Forces with Public Authorities in Protecting the Environment), unites 25 partners from 10 European nations. The primary objective of this initiative is to enhance participatory environmental monitoring and enforcement systems, as well as to advance practices in environmental governance, in accordance with the Green Deal Data Space initiative.
ENFORCE is funded under the “Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment” pillar, with a total budget of €7.3 million. This funding is co-supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding Guarantee, and it has also received financial backing from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The initiative is coordinatedby Dr. Svetlana Klessova from G.A.C. in France, who serves as the Project Coordinator, and Vice-Rector Prof. Chrysi Laspidou from the University of Thessaly in Greece, who acts as the Scientific Coordinator. The primary objective of ENFORCE is to foster collaboration between communities and authorities to ensure compliance with environmental regulations and to advance sustainable management practices.
ENFORCE project is designed to improve environmental compliance by tackling issues such as data inconsistency and insufficient coordination among stakeholders. It leverages citizen science and advanced technologies to ensure that environmental data collected at the local level adheres to the requisite standards for effective enforcement. The initiative will develop toolkits and protocols to harmonize citizen-collected data with official requirements, and it will introduce a Data Readiness Level (DRL) framework to evaluate the maturity of data for legal applications.
ENFORCE initiative integrates geo-spatial intelligence and AI tools to enhance data quality. This initiative aims to empower both citizens and public authorities by establishing the ENFORCE Plaza, a collaborative hub dedicated to citizen science in the realm of environmental compliance. The outcomes of this initiative will contribute to the European Union’s sustainability objectives and align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in the promotion of sustainable cities and communities.
The project will be implemented through eight case studies conducted across Europe, each focusing on distinct environmental challenges. Its objective is to engage a diverse array of stakeholders in order to formulate a comprehensive strategy for effective environmental monitoring and enforcement.
The project commenced on September 1, 2024, and is scheduled to continue until August 31, 2028. The consortium formally launched the project’s activities during a two-day meeting held in Nice, France, on September 10 and 11, 2024. This assembly, organized by the project coordinator, G.A.C. Group (France), convened 48 representatives from all partner organizations and established the foundation for a collaborative initiative that will extend over a four-year period.
For additional information, please refer to the press release.
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