UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse

Armenian environmentalists are concerned over a new parliament-approved law proposing new procedures of impact assessment and expertise.

ECLAC -in its role as Technical Secretariat for the Declaration on Principle 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean- along with delegates from the Governments of Chile and Costa Rica and civil-society representatives took part in the Fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention and the Second Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers held in Maastricht, Netherlands, from 29 June to 4 July 2014.

Ever considered going to court to protect the environment? It is important some people do. Most planning issues that end up in court are commercial – one company challenging the planning permission granted to another. But sometimes there are brave people who go to court ‘in the public interest’. In other words they don’t stand to gain anything from the result but go to protect wider democratic principles or the environment. After all the environment can’t go to court itself.

The general segment of the second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOPP 2) on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) continued on Friday, 4 July, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

VILNIUS, Jul 03, BNS - Parties to the UN Aarhus Convention have once again called on Belarus, which is building a nuclear power plant close to the border with Lithuania, to comply with international obligations. (The website requires registration to view articles.)

The general segment of the second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOPP 2) on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) opened on Thursday, 3 July, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Environmental activists and journalists across Europe and Central Asia face severe challenges in their efforts to promote both the access and dissemination of environmental information and public discussion of environmental issues. Without information and discussion, society is generally unable to achieve its right to a healthy environment: people remain unaware of the environmental threats that face them and are disempowered by not being equipped to participate fully in the development of policies, which includes being able to express independent opinions.

The Joint High-Level Segment of the fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP 5) to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and the second session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOPP 2) on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers convened on Wednesday, 2 July, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

[Maastricht, Netherlands, Wednesday 2 July 2014] Environment Ministers and high level officials from all over Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia have come to Maastricht to make a renewed commitment to access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters. At the 5th session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP-5) to the Aarhus Convention (1) they came together to adopt the Maastricht Declaration, among other things to better protect whistle-blowers.

Conscious citizens and companies wish to know what is in their food, how sustainable products are and how they are made. This requires better access to product information. For this reason, Ministers and representatives from 50 countries called on the business community today to be clearer about their production processes. The Dutch city of Maastricht is hosting a UN conference on environmental information this week, chaired by State Secretary Mansveld (Infrastructure and the Environment).

Right to information and environmental democracy – Speech. Minister Hogan : Joint High Level Segment of Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, Maastricht July 2nd 2014. Thematic session - Right to information and environmental democracy. Timing: Wednesday, 2 July, 10.35 a.m.

WECF advocates for focus on women and girls as marginalised groups. From June 30th until July 4th, UNECE will hold the fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Aarhus Convention as well as the second session of the MOP to the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Scotland remains in breach of international law in relation to the high cost of legal action in environmental cases, states are expected to agree as the 5th Meeting of Parties to the UNECE Aarhus Convention draws to a close in Maastricht today.

J&E held a side event on EU transparency at the 5th Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention. In 2013, J&E was interested in one fundamental question: can citizens of the EU get access to information on how their respective country implements EU law? We had to learn that the answer is: NO!

QUNO is attending the Aarhus Convention's Meeting of the Parties in Maastricht, the Netherlands, 30 June - 2 July 2014, and is organizing a side event on "Building peace through environmental access rights: preventing conflict around water, land and food" on Tuesday, July 1.

The fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP 5) to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) convened on Monday, 30 June, in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

[Maastricht, Netherlands, Monday 30 June 2014] On the opening day of the 5th session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP) to the Aarhus Convention a broad coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations called on the 47 Parties to the Aarhus Convention(1) to address flaws in this global landmark on environmental democracy. In a statement circulated to the Parties, the European ECO Forum(2) referred to the difficulties in promoting citizens’ environmental rights "against a backdrop of serious affronts to democracy, the rule of law, implementation of international agreements, and sovereignty in the UNECE region".

In 2014, fifth conference of the parties to the Aarhus Convention is taking place - this time in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Delegates from 46 signatory states from Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia will discuss current situation on access to the information, right to participate in decision making on environmental issues and right for independent justice.

Original in Italian. The Environmental Justice Organisations, Liabilities and Trade (Ejolt) tries to joke telling what it might mean for a tour guide in a few years: "Dear visitor, we are now entering a zone of ecological disaster, formerly known as the Ile-Alatau, the most wonderful National Park of Kazakhstan », but this could become a reality if the Kazakh government really gives the go-ahead (as it now seems certain) to the creation of a megalomaniac ski resort, Kok-Zhailau, planned near Almaty, the former capital of Soviet Kazakhstan (then named Alma Ata), a project that has recently received the Rusty Nail, the "prize" for the worst example of sustainable tourism, the International Tourism Fair in Berlin.

Article by: Jit Peters, Chair of the Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention. Information is power, and environmental information in the hands of public enables them to play a meaningful role in shaping a sustainable future. Too often, people are left in the dark about decisions that may lead to environmental disasters and degradation and thus affect their lives and those of the generations to come.