European ECO Forum Public Participation Campaign Issue Group Meeting

Kiev 23 May 15:30 - 17:00 - Room 23

Introduction

After two years of negotiations with an unprecedented level of ECO involvement, the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was opened for signatures at the last "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference held in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 1998. ECOs took part in all the negotiation meetings, where they were able to speak and present their views, suggestions and opinions on the different issues at stake.

The Convention came into force in October 2001 and the first Meeting of the Parties was held in Lucca, Italy, in October 2002. By that time 22 countries were party to the Aarhus Convention and another 22 signatories were on their way to ratification. The number of parties has now risen to 23. The countries that are currently party to the Convention, and as such are obliged to guarantee their citizens the rights recognised by the Convention, are: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. For updated information on ratification procedures see: www.unece.org/env/pp/ctreaty.htm

Since the last "Environment for Europe" Ministerial Conference at Aarhus a series of important developments have taken place with the continuing involvement of ECOs:

- the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers has been negotiated and will be opened for signatures at the Kiev Conference in a Special Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention. This new Protocol brings onto the European scene a concrete development of the “right to know” and will provide citizens all over Europe with information on the pollutants released by industry. For more information go to: www.unece.org/env/documents/2003/pp/mp.pp.2003.1.e.pdf

- thanks to a proposal made by ECO Forum and REC during the Second Meeting of the Signatories to the Aarhus Convention, held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 2000, negotiations started on a Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, which will also be opened for signatures at the Kiev Ministerial Conference. This Protocol sets out the obligation for parties to apply the strategic environmental assessment procedure to certain plans and programmes and to some extent also to policies and legislation. The public will be able to take part in the SEA procedures established thanks to this Protocol. For more information go to: www.unece.org/env/documents/2003/eia/mp.eia.2003.1.e.pdf

- during the Second Meeting of the Signatories to the Aarhus Convention, ECO Forum succeeded in its proposal to establish a new task force on access to justice, which has started to work on one of the parts of the Convention that is most difficult to implement: the access to justice pillar. The Handbook on Access to Justice under the Aarhus Convention will hopefully be available at the Kiev Ministerial Conference. For more information go to: www.unece.org/env/pp/mop1.htm

- the task force working on electronic tools has made a series of recommendations in relation with promoting the use of these tools in access to environmental information and public participation. Further information can be obtained at: www.unece.org/env/pp/mop1.htm

- The adoption of rules of procedure during the First Meeting of the Parties, in Carignano, Italy, in October 2002, provided one of the most progressive international frameworks for the public to attend and participate in the meetings of the Convention. It also granted the possibility for ECOs to appoint one representative to attend, with observer status, the meetings of the Bureau of the Aarhus Convention. In the Carignano meeting, in 2002, ECOs informed the Meeting of the Parties that they had appointed John Hontelez as their representative at the Bureau. For more information go to: www.unece.org/env/pp/mop1.htm

- Another relevant achievement has been the establishment of a compliance mechanism that allows submissions by members of the public whenever they think that any party to the Aarhus Convention is not applying the Convention correctly. After some lobbying, ECOs succeeded in getting the opportunity to propose candidates to the Compliance Committee. As a result, two of our candidates were appointed as members: Sandor Fulop and Svitlana Kravchenko. The latter was appointed during the first meeting of the Committee as Vice Chair. For more information go to: www.unece.org/env/pp/mop1.htm

Despite all the developments that have been achieved during these last years of hard work, there are also important gaps that ECOs have not managed to overcome. I am referring especially to one of the weakest parts of the Convention: public involvement in the decision-making process regarding the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). A big effort has been made to negotiate a binding solution to amend the Convention’s failure to provide public participation in this respect. However, the only result of this effort has been the preparation of Guidelines and the postponement of the adoption of any binding solution. A Working Group continues to work on this situation. Further information at: www.unece.org/env/pp/mop1.htm

With the aim of preparing and organising ECO input in the official process and activities on the ratification and implementation of the Convention, the Public Participation Campaign has organised ECO Conferences and Strategic Meetings in Chisinau, Moldova, in 1999; Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 2000; Brussels, Belgium, in 2002, and Carignano-Lucca, Italy, in 2002. The outcomes of all these meetings may be consulted at: www.participate.org/conferences/conferences.htm

The Public Participation Campaign has also prepared a number of useful publications in different languages providing friendly information on the Aarhus Convention, strategic environmental assessment, and on the implementation of Rio Principles 10 and 15. It also continues to prepare and distribute a newsletter, PARTICIPATE and updates the PPC website: www.participate.org. You can access the electronic versions of all these publications at: www.participate.org/publications/publications.htm

All the Public Participation Campaign’s activities are carried out thanks to the effort of the members of the Public Participation Campaigns Committee and the contribution of a number of persons and organisations who offer their expertise and resources to deal with the different fields of work. These activities are coordinated through e-mail list servers. Currently there are ongoing activities on the following issues: PRTR, GMOs, SEA, access to justice, and electronic tools. Any member of an ECO can ask to subscribe to any of the specific list servers or to the general Aarhus list server by sending a message to Mara Silina mara.silina@eeb.org

The work programme for year 2003 was prepared after the Carignano-Lucca International ECO Conference. It reflects the results of the debate that took place there and the agreement that was reached on the need to prepare a sound survey to assess the impact of the Convention in practice, using sufficient means and resources to produce a scorecard system that ECOs can use in the future to regularly measure the improvements achieved. Funds have very recently been raised that will allow us to organise a Workshop during the Kiev Conference on PRTR and SEA and to continue to provide information through the dissemination of publications and, hopefully, the organisation of an ECO Workshop on Practical Implementation.

Finally, there follows a proposed agenda for the meeting of the Public Participation Campaign Issue Group:

1. Introduction to the Campaign: its organisation and its influence on the preparation and implementation of the Convention.

2 - Developments achieved since the Carignano Meeting of the Parties and introduction to the work programme for year 2003 - main activities.

3. - Activities planned for 2004, with emphasis on work on implementation and the official process.

4 - Round of new national/regional developments.

Fe Sanchis Moreno
Public Participation Campaigns Coordinator
e-mail: fesanchis@terracentro.org
web: www.participate.org

10 May 2003