The workshop aims to:
- Identify and review methods enabled by geospatial data sources, and particularly EO, to support better detection and characterization of environmental crimes and their consequences;
- Enhance awareness of the latest developments in geospatial and open source intelligence in the context of multidisciplinary evidence collection to assure environmental compliance;
- Identify gaps in administrative capacity or expertise among enforcement authorities;
- Collect insights on priority areas to improve the integration of EO capabilities in intelligence workflows and protocols for environmental crime investigations;
- Aligning with stakeholders’ agenda, highlight the importance of developing crime-countering strategies that are evidence-based and data-driven, addressing both the root causes of crime and its environmental, societal and economic dimensions;
- Inform the definition of requirements for EO and other geospatial products and services supporting environmental crime investigations;
- Outline a way forward to implement new solutions for a wider uptake of EO into investigations of environmental crimes within the ESA-JRC cooperation activities.
This workshop is intended for researchers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, investigative teams, legal bodies, and international agencies that develop or use EO for environmental compliance assurance, and particularly enforcement activities.
These includes:
The workshop will be hosted at the ESA – ESRIN, Frascati (Italy), as an in-person meeting, with the possibility to follow the workshop remotely.
Topic areas:
The workshop will be structured around the main aspects of environmental compliance assurance : promotion, monitoring, enforcement, and capacity building.
Abstracts can be submitted indicating one of these four areas.
Promote
EO technology serves as a powerful tool for raising businesses’ and duty-holders’ awareness of their compliance with environmental regulations by offering insights into the impact of their operations on the environment. For instance, EO data can help assess greenhouse gas emissions, land usage, water pollution levels, resources exploitation. This EO-derived data facilitates informed decision-making to ensure business operations are environmentally compliant. Presentations on EO-driven ‘preventive’ measures should be submitted within this thematic area.
Monitor
Space technology can help assess and detect non-compliance with environmental regulations. Various types of sensors deployed in space offer extensive monitoring capabilities. For instance, spectrometers sensors can be used to measure atmospheric pollution, thermal infrared sensors to identify deforestation fires, optical sensors to detect wildlife poaching, and SAR sensors to track illegal fishing activities and oil spills, clear forest cuts, changes into mining sites among others. Such data can provide solid evidence and early alerts for enforcement in inspections, audits, investigations, and examination of public complaints. Presentations on EO and OSINT enabled ‘diagnostics’ should be submitted within this thematic area.
Enforce
Enforcement provides the means to of stopping non-compliance with environmental rules, applying sanctions, and repairing environmental damage. It covers, amongst other things, official warnings, cease-and-desist orders, administrative or criminal proceedings, application of sanctions, and demands to take remedial action. Presentations on EO and OSINT-backed ‘corrective’ measures should be submitted within this thematic area.
Capacity Building
Capacity building supports the effective uptake and operational use of EO and OSINT technologies for environmental compliance. It includes activities aimed at strengthening institutional, technical and analytical capacities among competent authorities, enforcement bodies, businesses and other relevant stakeholders. This may cover training, knowledge transfer, development of guidance, sharing of best practices, creation of user-friendly tools, and support to data interpretation and integration into existing compliance workflows. Presentations on EO- and OSINT-enabled approaches that enhance skills, cooperation and operational readiness for environmental compliance assurance should be submitted within this thematic area.
Thematic areas:
- Air pollution/ emissions
- Wildlife, Biodiversity and Protected Areas Crime
- Fisheries and marine environmental crime, including IUU Fishing and discharges
- Land Pollution, illegal waste and Hazardous Substances
- Illegal mining, quarrying and sand extraction
- Illegal water abstraction and water pollution
- Forestry crimes
- Illegal Fires and Burning
- Other
ORAL PRESENTERS
Presenters are allocated a 15-minute slot each, which includes 2 minutes for Q&A. We therefore expect that your presentation does not exceed 13 minutes, as the chairs will have to be strict to keep the schedule.
Presenters are kindly requested to upload their presentations on the dedicated laptop in the speaker-ready area located in the conference room (Big Hall), a Technician and a member of the Organising Team will be present to assist during the process.
Presentations will have to be uploaded via USB memory stick during the breaks, at least 30 minutes before the session starts.
Before doing so, please check the online program for the following information:
- Date of the presentation
- Title of the session
- Order of the presentation (e.g. 1st, 2d, 3d….)
File name convention and format
Please name your presentation file as follows:
- Presentation ID number
- Presenter Last name
AbstractID_Lastname.file eg.<“101_Brown.ppt”>
For each accepted contribution you can upload one file (max 230MB) as ppt, pptx or pdf. The suggested format for presentation is 16:9. Presenters are advised to check prior to their session start if formulas/animations/videos are shown correctly.
Please ensure you are in the session room at least 30 minutes before the session begins to meet with the session chairs, who will be near the stage.
The presenters must change the slides with the “slide advance device” placed on the podium. Any presentation from personal laptops is not allowed to ensure a smooth program running and minimise the transition time between presentations.
Following the event, the presentations may be published online.
Should you NOT want your presentation to be published, kindly advise the workshop oraniser in this respect.
POSTER PRESENTERS
Content: Posters should meet the workshop objectives in the relevant thematic areas and may present research results or research plans.
The required poster size is A0, portrait orientation.
Poster width should not exceed 90 cm (36″) height should not exceed 122 cm (48″).
Poster authors are expected to present their posters to the scientific community on the 29/30 of September during the Welcome Drink and the Poster sessions.
Please take the opportunity to read other posters and exchange contact information.
Mounting
Poster presenters should bring their posters already printed. No printing of the posters will be possible on-site. All posters should be mounted before the poster session and welcome drink start on 29/09/2026. Material for mounting the posters will be provided at the poster session area.
Please check that your poster is located on the correct board. The poster list will be available nearby the poster panels.
All the posters should be dismounted by lunch time on the 01 October 2026.
Printing Services in the Frascati Area
The posters can also be printed through some printing services in Frascati to avoid carrying the poster on the airplane. If the poster authors would like to print their portrait A0 posters, they can refer to the shops below that offer A0 color printing services:
- Mascelli, Via Bezzecca, 11 00044 Frascati, 06 942 0379 Mascelli – Belle Arti – Forniture per Belle Arti, Cartoleria, Copia e Stampa – Art supply, Stationery store in Frascati (business.site)
- M.G.S, Via Mentana 22 00044 Frascati, 06 8629 6488 M.G.S. srl Studio Grafico – Stampa digitale – Tipografia Digitale (business.site)
- Mascelli, Via Piccolomini 22 00044 Frascati, 06 9417603 Fotocopie di tutti i formati | Frascati, RM | Punto Copie (puntocopiefrascati.it)
Authors are encouraged to submit abstracts that clearly reflect the content of the presentation or poster, presenting research, developments, or applications relevant to the conference thematic areas. All submissions will be reviewed by the Programme Committee.
NOTE: Abstract length should be between 200 and 300 words (one A4 page, single space normally contains 400-500 words).
Participation
Participation in the oral and poster programme will be decided by the Programme Committee following the review of submitted abstracts.
REGISTRATION
The physical participation to the workshop is upon invitation only. Registration does not automatically guarantee participation and will be subject to validation by the organisers.
Registration constitutes an expression of interest in attending the workshop in person. As the workshop is by invitation only, submission of a registration request does not automatically guarantee participation and remains subject to review and approval by the organisers. Following the closure of the registration period on 1 September, all applicants will be notified by email of the outcome of their participation request.
No participation fees will be charged. Participants are expected to finance their own travel and accommodation expenses.
To express your interest in participating, please complete the registration form available [HERE].
| Abstract submission opening | 01 June 2026 |
| Abstract submission closing – EXTENDED | |
| Notification of acceptance | 07 August 2026 |
| Issue of Preliminary Programme | 07 August 2026 |
| Registration Opening | 07 August 2026 |
| Registration Closing | 01 September 2026 |
| Issue of Final Programme | at the workshop |
| Workshop | 29 September to 01 October 2026 |