Research and the development of the technologies of the Information Society applied to the environment

This article mainly aims at presenting the research and development of technologies of the Information Society applied to the environment, in the framework of the European Union (EU) policies and action plans. First of all, the link between telematics and environment is explained: although these two fields may seem contradictory, they finally prove to be complementary. Telematics can contribute to a better environmental management and protection. Besides this, the market and employment in Europe in the case of the above two mentioned fields is presented, together with the EU policies towards this direction. The Telematics Application Programme’s main topics are also given in more detail. Last, the reflection task for the 5th RTD Programme (1998‐2002) is presented and described.