ENFORCE - Empowering Citizens to Protect the Environment

Empowering Citizens to Join Forces with Public Authorities in Protecting the Environment

ENFORCE will help support legal actions and policy enforcement for environmental protection using geo-data workflows

The ENFORCE project (Empower citizeNs to join Forces with public authORities in proteCting the Environment) is dedicated to fostering sustainable practices and ensuring environmental regulatory compliance among various organizations. By employing Living Labs and citizen science methodologies, ENFORCE will create innovative tools that bridge the gap between data reporting, monitoring, and policy enforcement. The project integrates data collection (e.g. Copernicus satellite data), analysis, and stakeholder participation to meet these goals. Central to its strategy is the development of a collaboration hub that will introduce the concept of a Data Readiness Level (DRL) to assess the suitability of datasets for legal use. Additionally, ENFORCE will leverage geospatial intelligence and explainable AI to enhance environmental governance, aligning with the Green Deal Data Space initiative. These tools and strategies will be tested and refined at eight pilot sites in seven countries, supplemented by capacity-building and policy recommendation efforts. The project kicked-off in September 2024 and will continue until August 2028.

ENFORCE EU project — The three major research areas of the ENFORCE project.

52°North’s role in the consortium is the design and development of a geospatial information infrastructure that supports the envisioned data workflows. In particular, the integration of OGC API-driven systems into the Data Space ecosystem will be a central research topic. The concepts will be facilitated in an ENFORCE “Tools Plaza”, providing data science and analysis functionality for environmental compliance data workflows. In addition, 52°North will support the requirements analysis that will be an integral part of the Living Labs in the early stages of the project. Our team will also be responsible for assisting the other partners with the integration of data sources, both public and provided by partners, into the ENFORCE infrastructure.