Background
Introduction
Meetings
Mini-conference on Agenda 21 and the Information Society


Task Force on Electronic Information Tools

The first meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention Established.a new task force to facilitate the implementation of the Convention.by preparing draft recommendations on the more effective use of.electronic information tools to provide public access to environmental.information (see Decision I/6 E F R).

At their second meeting (25-27 May 2005, Almaty), the Parties decided to extend the mandate of the Task Force on Electronic.Information Tools. It adopted decision II/3 on Electronic.Information Tools and the Clearing-house Mechanism, which.included, as an annex, Recommendations on the more effective use.of electronic information tools to provide public access to.environmental information (E F R).

More on the history of the Task Force can be found here.


Current focus

The sixth meeting of the Task Force (13-14 December 2007) featured a mini-conference, "Agenda 21 and the Information Society", on its opening day. For more on the mini-conference, click here.


Monitoring implementation of the E-tools recommendations

At its fourth meeting (7-8 November 2005), the Task Force requested.the secretariat, in consultation with the Chair, to develop and.circulate a questionnaire to national focal points and task force.members, seeking to gather information on the implementation of.the recommendations in decision II/3 on electronic information tools and the clearing-house mechanism. The information gathered.through the questionnaire is intended to inform the Parties of the.needs, challenges and solutions in the area of e-information, e-participation and e-access to justice by providing a general.baseline from which to measure further progress.

The questionnaire.was circulated to National Focal Points and Task Force.members on 23 October 2006. At its fifth meeting (23-24 November 2006), the Task Force agreed to set a deadline of 20 December 2006 for.submitting responses to the questionnaire. However, some Parties later.indicated more time would be needed to complete their responses.

A report on the.outcome of the 2006 survey was.prepared for the .seventh meeting of the Working Group of.the Parties.(2-4 May 2007).

As of 31 January 2007, the secretariat had received 24 responses: 19 from Member States, one from the European Commission on behalf of the European Community and four from NGOs. Of the 20 responses received from Parties, eight were from the subregion of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) and 12 from the European Union (EU).

The first sub-regional workshop "Capacity-building for the Aarhus Clearinghouse Mechanism and Electronic Information Tools" was organized.by UNECE in partnership with the Regional Environmental Center in.Szentendre, Hungary (8-9 March 2007). Participants from countries which did not submit responses to the 2006 Questionnaire were requested to complete a shorter Workshop Questionnaire dealing with national nodes of the Clearinghouse.

An additional three responses to questions 18–24 (on the clearinghouse) were received from three Governments (2 EU, 1 EECCA) by 28 February 2007.

Following the first sub-regional workshop on capacity-building, two additional responses were received from the United Nations Administered Province of Kosovo.*

...* The designations employed and the presentation of the material on this web page.do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat.of.the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory,.city or.area,.or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or.boundaries.