SECOND MEETING OF THE PARTIES TO THE
AARHUS CONVENTION
Almaty, Kazakhstan, 25-27 May 2005
Opening remarks by Mrs
Brigita Schmögnerová,
Executive Secretary,
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:
[reads message of 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.
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