Second Meeting of the Parties - Almaty, Kazakhstan, 25-27 May 2005
Main page of the Second Meeting of the Parties
Opening remarks by Mrs Brigita
Schmögnerová, Executive Secretary,
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Your Excellencies, Distinguished
Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted
to be able to join Minister Samakova in welcoming
you to the high-level segment of the second meeting
of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention. Let me
begin by conveying to you the good wishes of the
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and reading out a message
which he asked me to deliver to you:
Message from the Secretary-General
That was the
message of the Secretary-General, and I would like
to echo his remarks concerning the significance
of this Convention. It is unique among multilateral
environmental agreements in the extent to which
it seeks to empower ordinary people, enabling them
to have a say in decisions that affect their environment.
By establishing concrete procedures to realise the
principles of environmental democracy, the Convention
addresses, in a practical way, the relationship
between human rights and the environment. Its implementation
has and will continue to strengthen government accountability
and contribute to the creation of more integrated
societies, in which people can feel that their voices
are heard.
This meeting
takes place almost seven years after the adoption
of the Convention in the Danish city of Aarhus.
In that time, much has happened. The entry into
force of the Convention in October 2001 just over
three years following its adoption was already a
significant achievement, allowing the first meeting
of the Parties to be held in Lucca in October 2002.
The adoption of the Protocol on Pollutant Release
and Transfer Registers at the Kiev Ministerial Conference
in May 2003 was another important milestone.
Since Lucca
and Kiev, the momentum has continued. The most obvious
sign of this is the substantial increase in the
number of Parties to the Convention. In Lucca, I
welcomed the fact that so many States from Eastern
Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia were in the forefront
of ratifying the Convention. I also expressed the
hope that before the second meeting of the Parties,
most States in Western and Central Europe would
have become Parties. That hope has now become a
reality. With 35 Parties to the Convention, the
countries of our region that are not yet Parties
begin to stand out more on the map than those that
are. I particularly welcome the recent ratification
of the Convention by the European Community, which
will have implications not only for the member States
but also for the Community institutions.
Apart from this
quantitative growth, there has also been qualitative
evolution, which is reflected in the agenda of the
present meeting. Whereas in Lucca the main achievement
was to put in place the broad institutional structures
of the Convention – the rules of procedure,
the compliance and reporting mechanisms, the scheme
of financial arrangements, and so on - here in Almaty,
Parties and other stakeholders have for the first
time the opportunity to review how the Convention
is working in practice.
Central to this
review process is the reporting mechanism that was
established in Lucca. Indeed, it may be argued that
periodically reviewing the implementation of an
international treaty is of no less importance than
drafting, adopting or ratifying it. You have before
you the outcome of the first reporting cycle, in
the form of 26 national reports on implementation,
and a synthesis report prepared by the secretariat.
The national reports contain an impressive body
of information whose value will persist far beyond
this meeting. They confirm that the Convention is
the main driving force behind the strengthening
of procedural environmental rights throughout Europe
and Central Asia. Many countries, as well as the
European Community, have introduced or are in the
course of preparing new legislation to implement
the Convention. There is no reason to believe that
this progress would have been achieved without the
Convention.
Complementing
the reporting regime is the Convention’s unique
and innovative compliance mechanism, mentioned in
the Secretary-General’s message. As it is
the first time that a compliance mechanism under
a multilateral environmental agreement provides
a formal possibility for the public, including NGOs,
to raise concerns about non-compliance, there will
no doubt be considerable interest in the outcome
of your deliberations on this topic and more generally
in how the mechanism functions and evolves over
time. Reconciling the Convention’s requirement
that the mechanism be ‘non-confrontational,
non-judicial and consultative’ with the fact
that it should be open to communications from the
public, which almost by definition are likely to
be critical, presents a challenge but not an insuperable
one. The fact that Parties choose to expose themselves
to the scrutiny and possible criticism of their
implementation by the public is commendable and
should be regarded as a strength, and I therefore
welcome the fact that no Parties have exercised
their right to opt out of that possibility. The
experience to date does not indicate any abuse by
the public of the right to make communications.
The reports,
as well as the deliberations of the Compliance Committee,
reveal that considerable work remains to be done
in many countries, especially those with economies
in transition, to enable them to establish the infrastructure
that they need to fully realise the potential of
the Convention. Capacity building must remain a
high priority. I strongly urge the donor community
to provide the necessary financial support to projects
that will assist countries in transition to fully
implement the Convention and maximise its benefits.
Financial support is certainly not a panacea and
there must always be a political will among the
decision-makers as well as other stakeholders in
order for real progress to be made. But in some
cases, relatively small amounts of funding can make
a large difference.
Let me take
this opportunity to express my appreciation of the
work of a number of international and regional organizations
engaged in capacity building projects aimed at promoting
implementation of the Convention. Important projects
have been and are being undertaken by, among others,
the regional environmental centres, UNEP, UNITAR,
UNDP, OSCE, the European Commission, through its
EuropeAid programme, and the Access Initiative.
UNECE is committed to continuing and deepening its
collaboration with these and other partners in the
coming period, using the Aarhus Clearinghouse for
Environmental Democracy as a tool for making information
available on their activities.
One trend that
emerges from the implementation reports is that
implementing the access to justice pillar of the
Convention appears to present the greatest challenge
to countries from all parts of the region. This
underlines the importance of continuing and building
upon the valuable work already undertaken in this
area, and I therefore welcome the recommendations
on this topic that have been prepared for adoption
at this meeting.
Welcome too
is the creative application by the Parties of new
information and communication technology to increase
the transparency of environmental information and
facilitate public participation in decision making.
The adoption during this meeting of recommendations
on the more effective use of electronic information
tools to provide public access to environmental
information is a direct outgrowth of the experience
gained in this area. I believe this will prove to
be a lasting contribution to the development of
a democratic Information Society.
This meeting
is not only about implementation of the Convention
as it stands today. It is also about its further
development. It [brings to a conclusion, at least
for the time being,] [marks an important step forward
in] the long-running debate on the extent to which
the public should have legally guaranteed rights
to participate in decision-making with respect to
genetically modified organisms (or GMOs). Given
the scale and significance of the biotechnology
industry, this is a hugely important subject. The
high level of public interest in this issue has
made it certainly one of the most controversial
topics discussed under the Convention. The seeds
of the debate can be traced right back to the day
that the Convention was adopted, when the Signatories
requested that the Parties, at their first meeting,
further develop the application of the Convention
by means of more precise provisions with respect
to the deliberate release of GMOs. This was done
first through the adoption of the non-binding guidelines
in Lucca, and since then has been pursued through
exploring options at the legally binding level [,
culminating in the adoption of the Convention’s
first amendment here in Almaty]. This will undoubtedly
be of wide interest, including to Parties to the
Cartagena Protocol.
Also of interest
both within and outside the ECE region will be the
outcome of your discussions on how to apply the
principles of the Aarhus Convention in the context
of international forums dealing with environmental
matters. [The guidelines you have adopted on this
topic] [Your efforts to prepare guidelines to Parties
on this topic] could indirectly lead to greater
transparency and accountability in a wide range
of international bodies and processes in which the
Parties to the Convention have a strong influence
– without of course undermining the autonomy
of such bodies and processes.
Distinguished
delegates, the success of the Convention to date
has only been made possible through the high level
of commitment made by its Parties and Signatories,
as well as supportive organizations. Specifically,
I would like to thank OSCE for the financial support
provided in connection with this particular meeting.
More generally, I would like to thank all those
countries, small and large, that have contributed
to the Trust Fund financing the activities under
the Convention. The voluntary scheme of contributions
that you have established on an interim basis relies
on the generosity of the Parties and much has been
done on the basis of that scheme. Nonetheless, if
the level of activities is to be maintained at the
present level, it will be necessary to increase
the total income. The secretariat will continue
to explore other sources of support but the contributions
from the Parties are likely to remain the mainstay
of extrabudgetary funding for the time being so
I would urge you to consider maintaining or even
increasing your contributions.
Another factor
in the success of this meeting is the committed
involvement of civil society organizations. The
high turnout of NGOs, in particular of environmental
organizations under the ECO Forum umbrella, reflects
the relevance of the Convention to all environmental
issues.
I would like
to conclude by expressing particular thanks to you,
Minister Samakova, and the Government of Kazakhstan
for hosting this meeting and for the warm welcome
you have given us here. You and your staff have
worked hard to provide an excellent setting for
this meeting and we are all grateful to you for
that. I hope that at least some delegates will be
able to stay here during the weekend to take in
the beautiful surroundings and enjoy the friendly
hospitality that is so much a feature of this part
of the world.
Unfortunately
I will not be able to stay with you for more than
a short time this morning, as I am expected to participate
in the high level segment of the SPECA meeting in
Astana, which happens to be taking place this very
day. However, I hope that your deliberations during
the remainder of this meeting are fruitful, and
that the Convention continues to go from strength
to strength.