Sharing environmental information with the public Michael Stanley-Jones UNECE Environment and Human Settlements Division michael.stanley-jones@unece.org Green Spiders Network Annual Conference Rome – 21-23 October 2004

The Aarhus Convention (1998) UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation on Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

— UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan “... Although regional in scope, the significance of the Aarhus Convention is global. It is by far the most impressive elaboration of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration... As such it is the most ambitious venture in the area of ‘environmental democracy’ so far undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations....“ — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

… a most unconventional convention Recognition of citizens' rights Procedural rights to information, participation, justice Substantive rights of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to health and wellbeing

International in scope Rights to be enjoyed irrespective of citizenship, nationality, domicile etc Open to non-ECE countries

Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) First international legally binding instrument to establish baseline for national pollutant registers Open to non-ECE countries and even to countries that are not parties to the Aarhus Convention

Three pillars of the Convention: ACCESS TO INFORMATION (arts. 4-5) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (arts. 6-8) ACCESS TO JUSTICE (art. 9)

Information pillar: passive components Any person has access (no need to prove or even state an interest) Broad definition of environmental information (art. 2) Time limit: ‘as soon as possible’, max. 1 month, plus 1 more month

Information pillar: passive components Charges not to exceed reasonable amount Finite set of exemptions, with restrictive interpretation: public interest to be taken into account potential effects of disclosure must be adverse

Information pillar: active components Transparency and accessibility of information systems Immediate dissemination of information in cases of imminent threat to health or environment Dissemination of international agreements, laws, policies, strategies, programmes and action plans relating to the environment

Information pillar: active components Sufficient product information to ensure informed environmental choices Pollutant release and transfer registers Increased access to information through Internet State of environment reports

Public Participation pillar Specific Projects or Activities (art. 6), Programmes and Plans (art. 7) Policies (art. 7) to provide opportunities in the preparation of policies relating to the environment “to the extent appropriate” Rules and regulations (art. 8) to promote effective public participation in rules/regulations and other legally binding instruments that may have a significant effect on the environment.

PRTR Protocol Requires Parties to establish a publicly accessible national PRTR maintained through mandatory reporting of certain listed pollutants release or transferred from certain listed activities Open to all UN Member States and regional economic integration organizations with competence , including non-Parties to the Convention

Each Party obligated to establish a PRTR that is: publicly accessible and user-friendly presents standardized, timely data on a structured, computerized database covers releases and transfers from certain major point sources

begins to include some diffuse sources (e. g begins to include some diffuse sources (e.g. transport, agriculture, small- and medium-sized enterprises) has limited confidentiality provisions allows public participation in its development and modification

PRTRs should be: accessible through the Internet free of charge searchable according to the separate parameters provide links to other PRTRs and to other relevant registers provide for limited confidentiality - similar to the Convention

Pollutants covered (annex II): Greenhouse gases Acid rain pollutants Ozone-depleting substances Heavy metals Certain carcinogens, such as dioxins TOTAL: 86 pollutants

The European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER) Launched 23 February 2004 by the European Commission and European Environment Agency Provides the stepping-stone for EU to comply with the UNECE PRTR Protocol

for environmental democracy AARHUS CLEARINGHOUSE for environmental democracy http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org

EPER www.eper.cec.eu.int More than 100,000 visitors in its first three months of operation 1,600,000 hits – highest ever at EEA

NGOs will make use of PRTR data to search by community makes links to health information populate map servers… www.scorecard.org www.svtc.org www.iheal.org

for environmental democracy AARHUS CLEARINGHOUSE for environmental democracy http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org

Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers

Task Force on Electronic Information Tools Draft Recommendations on the more effective use of electronic information tools Support for the clearing-house mechanism, including national contacts points and nodes of the Aarhus Clearinghouse http://www.unece.org/env/pp/electronictools.htm

PRTR Virtual Classroom http://prtrvc.unitar.org

The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs.html

Happy Halloween

“The ability for all to access and contribute information, ideas and knowledge is essential in an inclusive Information Society.” — WSIS Declaration of Principles