Supporting environmental law enforcement

We are excited to announce that we just kicked off EnviroLENS, a Horizon 2020 project funded by the European Commission which will bring together information derived from satellite monitoring technology along with existing environmental laws and use it as direct evidence for law enforcement. EnviroLENS aims to bridge the gap for the utilization of the European satellite capacities for environmental law enforcement and related cross-cutting sectors.

The project is responding to the demands of the European legal sector for ready-to-access evidence and scenario information on environmental situation and/or violations. It will provide identification of both historic and ongoing violations (physical, chemical or biological alterations of landscapes or ecosystems) and actively contribute to their compliance with environmental law. EnviroLENS talks about the development of a completely new market for Copernicus as up to now, EO services have not been used for enforcement because legislation is not considering this as an option and vice-versa, legislation has not considered EO services as employable for enforcement, since EO still has to demonstrate to be an effective enforcement tool.