Project on Reducing Climate Change Risks to Water Resources in Honduras

According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Honduras is one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America to climate change, with its water resources particularly at risk. Moreover, population growth has led to the increased habitation of low-income populations in areas prone to increased landslides and flooding from climate change-related weather events. This …   Continue readingProject on Reducing Climate Change Risks to Water Resources in Honduras

New York City’s Environmental Quality Review Technical Guidelines

he City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) Technical Manual assists city agencies, project sponsors and the public in conducting environmental reviews subject to CEQR procedures. CEQR requires city agencies to assess, disclose and mitigate to the greatest extent practicable the significant environmental consequences of their decisions to fund, undertake or approve a …   Continue readingNew York City’s Environmental Quality Review Technical Guidelines

Local Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, Mongolia

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organisation headquartered in San Francisco and with a network of offices in 18 Asian countries, including Mongolia, and in Washington, DC. The Asia Foundation’s current environmental program, Engaging Stakeholders for Environmental Conservation (ESEC), was initiated in August 2010 to address the key …   Continue readingLocal Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, Mongolia

Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures

Most States have adopted environmental impact assessment (EIA) laws, in accordance with principle 17 of the Rio Declaration, which states that “environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument, shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national …   Continue readingPublic Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures

United States’ National Historic Preservation Act

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), which was enacted in 1966, aims to preserve historic and archaeological properties by requiring federal agencies to consider the effects of their actions on such properties. The NHPA requires federal agencies to determine whether a proposed project is an “undertaking” which has the potential to affect historic sites, …   Continue readingUnited States’ National Historic Preservation Act

Canada-U.S. Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act (Model Law)

In 1982, a liaison committee of the U.S. National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and the Canadian Uniform Law Conference drafted a model law entitled the Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act. Its key provision states that “[a] person who suffers, or is threatened with, injury to his person or property in a reciprocating jurisdiction …   Continue readingCanada-U.S. Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act (Model Law)

Ontario’s Environmental Registry

The province of Ontario has created a web-based Environmental Registry where the public can access a wide spectrum of environmental-related information. The Environmental Registry was created pursuant to the requirements of the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights, a comprehensive law whose purpose is, among other things, to protect the right to a healthful environment. …   Continue readingOntario’s Environmental Registry

Alvari – Community Participation Mechanism

The city of Tampere in southern Finland, which has a population of 220,609 as of January 2014, created an integrated system for public participation called Alvari in 2007. Alvari serves as an advisory working group model enabling citizens to participate in city administration, thus promoting a bottom-up perspective to planning. The initiative created four advisory working …   Continue readingAlvari – Community Participation Mechanism

North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme between Finland and Tanzania

As a part of the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme, the city of Tampere and its Tanzanian partner city of Mwanza have worked together to diminish the gap between Northern and Southern municipalities by opening a channel for cities to exchange knowledge, share policies and shape practices inspiring each other. Coordinated by the Association of Finnish …   Continue readingNorth-South Local Government Co-operation Programme between Finland and Tanzania