The Eye on Earth Summit was preceded by a Civil Society Forum on December 11, 2011. The rationale for holding the Civil Society Forum is rooted in the fact that Major Groups and stakeholders of civil society play an important role as an information source, an information interface with the general public and public authorities, a recipient of information, and a participant in decision making processes. They use most of the available environmental information in their daily work and have an interest in comprehensive, reliable and adequate information and thus they constitute as representatives of the public and key decision makers, the most important recipient of environmental information.
The purpose of this Civil Society Forum is to provide an opportunity for up to 150 Civil Society representatives prior to the summit to prepare and consolidate their inputs into the Summit, to promote the international agenda for improved access and ability to use and leverage environmental data and information for the benefit of all communities of our global society.
The Forum is expected to solicit inputs of civil society in addressing the overall expected result of the Summit, and to help create a consensus on key areas of access to environmental and societal information, and to collaborate towards strengthening existing initiatives and filling gaps towards more informed policy making and a sustainable future.
Participants to the Civil Society Forum are also invited to participate in the Eye on Earth Summit itself.
- Meeting Agenda
- Organization of the Forum and mapping out of civil society, Lalanath De Silva, Director, The Access Initiative, Moderator of the Group
- WG1. Csaba Kiss, Director, Environment Law and Managament Association (Hungary)
- WG2. Peter Veit, Regional Director for Africa, WRI
- WG3. Mick Wilson, DEWA, UNEP
- WG4. Lucy Waruingi, African Conversation Centre
- The critical role of access to information, Jeremy Wates, Secretary General European Environmental Bureau
For further information, please contact Olgica Beamish (Olgica.Beamish@unep.org) or Alexander Juras (Alexander.Juras@unep.org)
For more information on the Summit, please also visit
www.eyeonearthsummit.org