The Georgian Environmental Agency and EEA experts, with support from PwC as contractor, held national round table discussions on open data and e-governance for the environment under the EU-funded ENI SEIS II East project.

The project aims to assist the future implementation of the SEIS principles in the six ENI East countries by improving the sharing and dissemination of environmental information between various institutions at national level and beyond, as defined by the Aarhus Convention on access to environmental information. In particular, it covers the thematic work undertaken within the ENI SEIS II East areas of work, activities overseen by the Aarhus Convention and current EU initiatives on open data, streamlining reporting and improving access to environmental information.

The round table aimed to identify concrete steps to advance the legal, organisational and technical conditions required to ensure that environmental information is integrated with national e-government and open data initiatives at country level and in line with SEIS principles.

The national round table discussion followed the first regional workshop held on 5 and 6 March 2019 in Kyiv, Ukraine. This regional workshop highlighted the need for the right governance model, legal and licensing framework, and interoperability mechanisms to enable sharing and dissemination of environmental information on open data and ‘eco’ portals. In addition, it pointed to the need to work on the development of environmental information systems, metadata and information/data sharing standards, while increasing awareness in both public institutions and among citizens.

A key objective in this process is to raise awareness of the benefits of sharing environmental information and knowledge at all levels. For the implementation of this component, close links need to be established, among others, with key international partners, such as UNECE, the WGEMA, the Aarhus Convention/ the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) Protocol Secretariat, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)/Aarhus Centres, regional environment centres (RECs) and NGOs. Therefore, the national round table audience included experts on the environment, e-government and open data.

 Photos and meeting documents

The event in Georgia was covered on the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture's website and on its Facebook page.