Although Uzbekistan has not signed the Aarhus Convention, the State has undertaken many measures to promote its implementation. After the conclusion of the Aarhus Convention, the Government distributed copies of the Convention’s text to raise awareness about its provisions for promoting public access to information, public participation in decisionmaking, and access to justice. With support from the Center of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the American Bar Association, the State Committee for Nature Protection held approximately 30 seminars and roundtable discussions around the country to raise public awareness of the Convention and about environmental democracy more generally.
The Government has started to apply provisions of the Convention to increase public participation in regulatory development. For example, the Urban Building Code was developed and adopted pursuant to the Convention’s procedural requirements for participatory decisionmaking.
The Government of Uzbekistan has also established a Center for Ecological Information to meet the needs of the public regarding information on ecological conditions. While Uzbekistan is not a party to the Aarhus Convention, the Government considered various provisions of the Convention promoting public access to environmental information when it established the Center. While the Center is still in its early stages of operation, it started undertaking various actions to promote public participation and access to information long before its official opening.
For more information, contact envconf@uzsci.net