[Index]
Parties to the UNECE
Aarhus Convention hold second meeting
(Almaty, Kazakhstan,
25-27 May 2005)
Geneva, 24 May 2005
- The Parties to the Aarhus Convention
on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice
in Environmental Matters will hold their
second meeting in Almaty on 25-27 May
2005.1 Adopted under the auspices
of the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE),2 the Aarhus
Convention is widely viewed as the world’s
most far-reaching treaty on environmental
rights. The meeting is aimed at strengthening
environmental democracy through effective
implementation of the Convention.
Among the key topics
on the agenda are:
-
Implementation
and compliance: the Meeting
will review the first set of national
reports on implementation, providing
an opportunity for all concerned to
see whether and how the goals of the
Convention are applied in practice.
The Meeting will also consider the
findings of the Convention's Compliance
Committee that three countries --
Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the host
country Kazakhstan -- have failed
to comply with certain provisions
of the Convention. It will be the
first test of the Convention's compliance
mechanism, which is unique in that
any member of the public having concerns
about a Party’s compliance with
the Convention may trigger a process
of formal review by the Committee.
The Meeting of the Parties will have
the final say as to whether there
is non-compliance and, if so, what
measures should be taken.
-
The controversial
issue of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs): the Parties
will consider specific proposals to
amend the Convention so as to extend
the rights of the public to participate
in decision-making on GMOs. However,
just days before the meeting, positions
remain polarized, and intensive negotiations
are currently under way, with the
involvement of environmental organizations
and representatives of the biotechnology
industry, in an attempt to close the
divide.
-
A proposal to
adopt guidelines on how Parties should
apply the principles of the
Aarhus Convention in other international
environment-related forums:
if adopted, the guidelines could indirectly
lead to greater transparency and accountability
in a wide range of international bodies
and processes dealing with environmental
issues in which the Parties to the
Convention have a strong influence.
A high-level segment,
to be held on 27 May, will consist of
two panel discussions addressing “Successes,
failures and lessons learned: key challenges
in implementing the Convention”
and “Global and regional developments
on issues related to principle 10 of the
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.”
Ms Brigita Schmögnerová, UNECE
Executive Secretary, is expected to read
out a message to the Meeting from the
Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Mr Kofi Annan, at the opening of the high-level
segment.
For further information, please visit
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/mop2.htm
or contact:
Mr. Michael STANLEY-JONES
Environmental Information Management
Officer
Aarhus Convention Secretariat
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Mobile +41 79 477 08
42
E-mail: [email protected]
__________________________
1 The Parties
are: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of
Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Tajikistan,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom
and the European Community.
2 The UNECE
region encompasses the whole of Europe
and five Central Asian countries, as well
as Canada, Israel and the United States.
Ref: ECE/ENV/05/P05