The Ad hoc Committee on E-Democracy of the Council of Europe (CAHDE) was established by decision of the Committee of Ministers of 24 May 2006 and started its work on 23 and 24 September 2006. CAHDE is primarily an intergovernmental body, whose members are delegated by the 46 Member States of the Council of Europe, and by relevant international organisations (eg EU, OSCE).

The fifth meeting of the Informal Working Group (IWG) took place in London on 26 and 27 February 2008, immediately before the international e-participation symposium on 'Empowering Citizens thought Technology and Participation'.

Umweltbundesamt is contributing to e-Environment and Terminology together with Prof. J. Hrebicek, Masaryk University, CNR Italy, EEA and Umweltbundesamt Dessau as well as to SEIS.

The current state of work regarding e-Environmental Terminology is available at BKA-Wiki.

The final CAHDE meeting took place in Strasbourg on 13 and 14 November 2008. Please refer to the final documents on:

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E-Environment is part of E-Democracy

Explanatory memorandum to Recommendation CM/Rec(2009)1 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on e-democracy

Principle 40. “E-environment is the use and promotion of ICT for the purposes of environmental assessment and protection, spatial planning, and the sustainable use of natural resources, and includes public participation. Using ICT to introduce or enhance public participation can improve democratic governance in respect of environmental issues.”

87. E-environment includes the use of ICT-based systems for access to and the dissemination of environmental data and information as well as the establishment of ICT-supported monitoring systems and repositories for environmental knowledge. E-environment thus makes it possible to forecast and monitor the impact of natural and manmade factors and other pressures on the environment, and to determine the current state of the environment, which in turn makes it easier to formulate potential responses because it is possible to call on a broader, more widely disseminated knowledge base.

88. Spatial planning and spatial cohesion are both basic components of the e-environment field, and ones that constitute major challenges for nation states and regional and local authorities. In May 2008, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe adopted a report and recommendation on “Electronic democracy and deliberative consultation on urban projects”.

89. The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters includes provisions calling on contracting parties to use electronic information tools to provide public access to environmental information. To this end, the Parties to the Convention set up a task force to facilitate implementation of the Convention through the effective use of electronic information tools designed to provide public access to environmental information.

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