1. The Aarhus Clearinghouse Progress Report November 2005
Michael Stanley-Jones
Environmental Information Management Officer
Aarhus Convention Secretariat
UN Economic Commission for Europe

3. Clearinghouse’s Renewed Mandate
DECISION II/3 On Electronic Information Tools
and the Clearing-house Mechanism adopted in Almaty at Second Meeting of the Parties
(May 2005)
“Welcoming … the establishment of a clearing-
house mechanism and the launch of the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy”

4. In Almaty, the Meeting of the Parties…
Invites Parties, Signatories and other interested States to develop a national node of the clearing-house mechanism with legal and practical information on issues related to the Convention at national level, linked to the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy,

5. … and invites other stakeholders to submit relevant information to the clearing house

6. 3. Decides to extend the mandate of the Task Force on Electronic Information Tools with
the following programme of work:

7. (d) Maintenance and further development of the clearing-house mechanism, including development of guidance materials and a programme of training workshops in support of capacity building for the national nodes of the clearing house while avoiding duplication of work

9. The Clearinghouse today…
Designated National Nodes
Resource Directory
Usage

10. Aarhus CH national nodes have so far been designated
“ 17 ”
Aarhus CH national nodes
have so far been designated

11. The Resource Directory holds 726 separate entries
The Resource Directory holds 726 separate entries. Each entry is ‘tagged’ with one or more thematic attribute:
Access to Information 496
Public participation 330
Electronic Tools
Access to Justice
PRTRs
Convention Compliance 112
Strategic Decision-making 109
GMOs

12. Resources entries by activity:
Research 363
Legislation 295 
Projects 265 
Policy 195 
Procedures 183 

13. Source of entries by organizational type:
NGOs
Intergovernmental organizations 222
Government
Academia

14. Leaders’ entries among Parties and Signatories
All sources
United Kingdom + — 63
European Commission + — 30
Kyrgyzstan + — 19
Armenia, Georgia + — 17
Kazakhstan +/ — 16
Azerbaijan — 14
Germany + — 11
Belarus +, Ireland +, Ukraine — 10 *
Bulgaria +, Italy + — 9 *
Republic of Moldova +, Switzerland — 8 *
Norway, Tajikistan +/ — 7 *
Romania, Spain, FYR Macedonia — 6 *___________
* each + designated Aarhus website / not operational

15. UK entries by attribute
Access to Information — 39
Public participation — 29
Electronic Tools — 12
Access to Justice — 11
PRTRs — 6
Convention Compliance — 8
Strategic Decision-making— 4
GMOs — 3

16. Tajikistan entries by attribute
Access to Information — 4
Public participation — 4
Electronic Tools — 1
Access to Justice — 1
PRTRs — 0
Convention Compliance — 1
Strategic Decision-making— 1
GMOs — 0
No. of attributes 12 > 7 No. of entries

17. Growth in Visits 2004

18. Visits 2005 to date

20. Next Steps underway… Ongoing outreach with resource providers
Fresh News features
National node capacity building
Content management guidance
Help page (for users)
Upgrade web calendar of principle 10
related events
Clearinghouse information exchange
Integration of capacity building information

21. Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy