The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (or Aarhus Convention) was adopted in 1998 and entered into force in 2001. In addition to being an advanced articulation of Rio Principle 10 that operationalises public participation in a region, the Aarhus Convention is innovative for the unprecedented level of NGO involvement in its conceptualisation, negotiating, drafting, signing, ratification, and implementation.
The Aarhus Convention grew out of the “Environment for Europe” process, which started in 1991. The Environment for Europe process seeks to pursue a coherent strategy for addressing Europe’s environmental problems, with particular emphasis on restoring the environments of countries with economies in transition from Communism. An integral part of this international effort has been to define the role of public participation in implementing sustainable development. In fact, officials in many of the countries in transition had formerly been in NGOs and thus supported efforts to improve transparency, participation, and accountability.
The third Ministerial Conference of the process, held in 1995, included environment ministers from 49 States from Europe, North America, and Central Asia (comprising most of the UNECE States), as well as from Australia, Japan, and Mexico. Representatives of the European Community and NGOs also attended. The Conference considered proposed UNECE Guidelines on Access to Environmental Information and Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making. Members of Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE) and NGOs asserted that the non-binding guidelines were too weak and that a stronger, binding convention was necessary. Ultimately, the Ministerial Declaration highlighted public participation as a key issue, and it recommended that development of a regional public participation convention with appropriate NGO involvement.
Participation of NGOs throughout the process has meant added technical and personnel resources in the negotiating process, a stronger Convention, increased public support for the outcome, and a broad-spectrum of advocates who assist in implementing the Convention. In addition to participating in drafting the Convention, NGO representatives served on official national delegations. The NGOs established a coalition called the “European ECO Forum,” which fielded a delegation that participated in the Environment for Europe conferences and drew upon a resource group of more than 200 public interest environmental experts who reviewed drafts, provided input, and suggested strategies.
In 1993, 1995, and 1998, NGOs held conferences that paralleled the ministerial conferences. NGOs also hosted country roundtables in 15 Central and East European nations, as well as some West European nations, to educate the public about the potential Convention. An NGO coalition in cooperation with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) conducted and coordinated extensive research on the state of environmental governance in the UNECE States. In 1994, the REC published a Manual on Public Participation, which assessed public participation practices and opportunities in Central and Eastern Europe, and was essentially a guide of best practices. Later, the REC published Doors to Democracy, a series of State-by-State assessments of trends and practices in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Newly Independent States, which stimulated NGO activity in this area.
NGOs continue to play a high-profile role in lobbying their States to ratify and implement the Aarhus Convention, and NGOs frequently provide technical and logistical assistance in developing implementing laws and regulations as well as working with Governments to raise public awareness about the Convention.
This case study was adapted from Carl E. Bruch & Roman Czebiniak, “Globalizing Environmental Governance: Making the Leap from Regional Initiatives on Transparency, Participation, and Accountability in Environmental Matters,” 32 Environmental Law Forum 10428, 10432 (2002).
For more information, see http://www.unece.org/env/pp and http://www.participate.org/archive/archive.htm