Table of Contents

5 Conclusions and next steps

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5.1 Key conclusions

# Existing EU and international policies do not forbid the use of citizen‑science (CCLA/CGD) in environmental compliance assurance. # Horizontal (cross‑cutting) policies (Aarhus, Access‑to‑Info, EC 2024) provide the legal scaffolding for public participation, information flow and access to justice. # The most explicit thematic opportunities are found in the Nature Restoration Regulation (2024) and the Deforestation‑Free Products Regulation (2023). # Many policies remain ambiguous – the real impact will depend on how Member States transpose and implement the provisions.

5.2 Next steps (Phase 2 of Task 1.1)

1. Methodology refinement – incorporate lessons learned, improve the colour‑coding framework, and add quantitative indicators. 2. Expand policy set – analyse additional EU directives, implementing decisions, and national transposition measures. 3. Develop national‑policy templates – to be used by WP 3 case‑studies. 4. Strategic engagement – feed the findings into WP 4 (T4.5) to influence policy revision and to design outreach material for policymakers. 5. Dissemination – publish the final Deliverable 1.9 (month 24) and a policy‑brief targeted at EU institutions and national agencies.

5.3 Implications for the more4nature project

* The policy‑mapping tool (template + colour code) can be reused across different environmental domains. * Early identification of “low‑hanging fruit” (e.g. the Deforestation‑Free Products Regulation) enables the project to pilot citizen‑science pilots that can be scaled up later. * Understanding the implementation gap helps the consortium to tailor capacity‑building activities for national authorities and citizen groups.