Shared Environmental Information System

What is the Shared Environmental Information System?

The Shared Environmental Information System (SEIS) is a collaborative initiative of the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) to establish together with the Member States an integrated and shared EU-wide environmental information system. This system would tie in better all existing data gathering and information flows related to EU environmental policies and legislation. It will be based on technologies such as the internet and satellite systems and thus make environmental information more readily available and easier to understand to policy makers and the public.

The underlying aim of SEIS is also to move away from paper-based reporting to a system where information is managed as close as possible to its source and made available to users in an open and transparent way.

According to the SEIS concept, environmentally-related data and information will be stored in electronic databases throughout the European Union. These databases would be interconnected virtually and be compatible with each other. The proposed SEIS is a decentralised but integrated web-enabled information system based on a network of public information providers sharing environmental data and information. It will be built upon existing e-infrastructure, systems and services in Member States and EU institutions.

A major challenge in Europe and globally is to organise the vast array of already collected environmental data and information and to integrate these, where desirable, with existing social and economic data. This data should be made available together with tools that allow experts to do their own analyses and to communicate their results in ways which policy makers and the public can readily understand and use as a basis for their own actions. At the same time, Member States and EU institutions need an efficient and modern reporting system to fulfil their legal obligations under European Union and international environmental policies and legislation, thus avoiding double, overlapping, and redundant reporting efforts. The Shared Environmental Information System for European aims to address these challenges.