[Index]
Environmental democracy clearing house
launched
to highlight progress under the Aarhus
Convention
Geneva, 13 July 2004 - A new
“environmental democracy”
clearing house – aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org
– is being launched by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) to highlight and promote awareness
of issues covered by the Aarhus Convention.1
The clearing house showcases good practices
in citizens’ environmental rights
and is expected to make implementation
of the Convention more effective.
The Aarhus clearing house
provides a forum for the collection, dissemination
and exchange of information on laws, policies
and good practices relevant to the rights
of public access to information, public
participation in environmental decision-making
and public access to justice on environmental
issues. In addition to information related
to the Aarhus Convention, the clearing
house also contains other information
relevant to the implementation of principle
10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment
and Development, adopted at the Earth
Summit in 1992.2 It, therefore, has the
potential to become a leading global repository
of information on this theme.
The clearing house provides
information for a wide range of users,
including governments, intergovernmental
organizations, NGOs, students and researchers,
and the general public.
The clearing house will
help the Convention's compliance mechanism
by providing ready access to information
on national implementing legislation and
practices. Information gathered through
the reporting requirements under the Aarhus
Convention will be available through the
clearing house. Non-governmental organizations
may also submit information to the clearing
house.
Mr. Kaj Bärlund,
Director of the UNECE Environment and
Human Settlements Division, hopes that
the Parties to the Convention will embrace
the clearing house as “a mechanism
for promoting access to information and
widespread participation in the development
of environmental democracy throughout
the region and beyond.”
According to Ms. Svetlana
Zhekova (Bulgaria), Chairperson of the
Aarhus Convention’s Task Force on
Electronic Information Tools, “the
Aarhus clearing house is a cost-effective
electronic information tool providing
a window on environmental democracy worldwide.
Easy access to information on how countries
are applying the Aarhus Convention can
provide an invaluable source of inspiration
for other countries that work on developing
their own procedures, mechanisms and legislation.”
A demonstration version
of ‘aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org’
was shown at the 3rd meeting of the Aarhus
Convention’s Task Force on Electronic
Information Tools (Geneva, 2 July) and
from today it will be accessible to the
public at large.
The UNECE Convention
on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice
in Environmental Matters – commonly
known as the Aarhus Convention after the
Danish city where it was signed in 1998
– has been described by United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan as ‘the
most ambitious venture in environmental
democracy undertaken under the auspices
of the United Nations’.
The Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development was adopted
at the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (3 to 14 June 1992). See
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=78&ArticleID=1163
For more details, see http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org,
or contact:
Mr. Michael Stanley-Jones
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 24 42
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http:///www.unece.org/env/pp
____________
1 The UNECE Convention on Access to Information,
Public Participation in Decision-making
and Access to Justice in Environmental
Matters – commonly known as the
Aarhus Convention after the Danish city
where it was signed in 1998 – has
been described by United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan as ‘the most ambitious
venture in environmental democracy undertaken
under the auspices of the United Nations’.
2 The Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development was adopted at the United
Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (3 to 14 June 1992). See http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=78&ArticleID=1163
Ref. ECE/ENV/04/P12