LIFE-2021-SAP-NAT-GOV
Proposals under this topic must address EU Nature and Biodiversity legislation compliance assurance and access to justice by:
- establishing new or, where in place, enhancing existing cross-border, national or regional networks of compliance assurance practitioners or experts; and/or establishing or, where in place, improving professional qualifications and training to improve compliance with binding EU legal instruments on nature and biodiversity, through promoting, checking and enforcing compliance, or
- applying the polluter pays principle, using a mix of administrative law, criminal law and environmental liability; and/or
- by developing and implementing strategies and policies and/or developing and using innovative tools and actions to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with binding EU instruments on nature and biodiversity, or ensure application of the polluter pays principles through environmental liability; and/or
- improving relevant information systems operated by public authorities; and/or engaging with citizens and others to promote and monitor compliance, and ensure application of environmental liability in relation to EU nature and biodiversity legislation.
Environmental compliance assurance practitioners can include those working for authorities and bodies with compliance assurance responsibilities such as local, regional, police and customs authorities, agencies and inspectorates, supreme public audit bodies and the judiciary. They can also include non-governmental organisations and academics and researchers specialised in one or more aspects of compliance assurance. With regard to professional qualifications and training, projects should ensure academic credentials and maximise the potential of information technology through means such as webinars and massive open online courses (MOOCs) to allow distance learning to reach as many practitioners as cost-effectively as possible.
Promotion systems and techniques could involve the use of guidance, advisory services, awareness-raising campaigns, partnership agreements, or self-monitoring systems that assist duty-holders to comply. Strategies and policies are aimed at highlevel organization of activities and interventions, especially risk-based ones. Monitoring systems and techniques could relate to site inspections, surveillance (including through use of satellites and drones), spot checks, intelligence-gathering, industry analysis, police investigation, data analysis and environmental audits.
Follow-up and enforcement techniques can have a similarly wide coverage. Electronic complaint-handling systems, hot lines, citizen observatories and other citizen science platforms can all facilitate citizen engagement. Citizen science platforms may, amongst other things, allow competent national, regional and local authorities to engage citizens in state-of-the-environment and other forms of monitoring, while also generating more harmonized and useable data.
Promoting effective public participation and access to justice in nature and biodiversity policy and legislation-related matters amongst the public, NGOs, lawyers, the judiciary, public administrations or other stakeholders with a view to improving knowledge, understanding and application of effective means of public participation and/or access to justice, with a particular focus on protecting nature and biodiversity via the nature, biodiversity, water and environmental liability instruments.
Projects should draw on existing modules and know-how in the area of environmental law training developed by the Commission and the Commission Notice on access to justice in environmental matters and related materials.
Further prioritisation of the proposals and the related policy priorities are enlisted in the Call document.
Link with CMA Goals
Goal I: Healthy marine and coastal ecosystems / Priority 5: Encourage the production, management and sharing of marine and coastal environmental knowledge for effective environmental monitoring and observation