Sub-Category: Treaties and Instruments



Aarhus Centres

In an effort to support the implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters by providing members of the public with practical resources to exercise their environmental rights under the Aarhus Convention, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) …   Continue readingAarhus Centres

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

The Aarhus Convention is a regional instrument on the rights to access of information, participation, and access to justice, enshrined in Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration. Adopted in June 1998, the Aarhus Convention states that in order to “contribute to the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment …   Continue reading(Aarhus) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Bali Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

The Bali Guidelines were adopted by the Governing Council of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in its decision SS.XI/5, part A of 26 February 2010. They are a set of 26 voluntary guidelines that aim to provide general guidance to States on promoting “the effective implementation of their commitments to Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and …   Continue readingBali Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

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)

Regional Instrument on the Rights of Access to Information, Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean

During the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, ten States from the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region subscribed to a Declaration on Principle 10. By 2014, nine more countries had signed the Declaration, representing more than half of all LAC countries. The signatory countries, which include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Jamaica, expressed their …   Continue readingRegional Instrument on the Rights of Access to Information, Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean

Nordic Environmental Protection Convention

The Nordic Environmental Protection Convention, which entered into force on 5 October 1976, promotes international cooperation in remedying transboundary environmental harm by, among other things, allowing reciprocal access to domestic legal remedies between residents of State Parties to the treaty. Article 2 of the Convention incorporates the principle of …   Continue readingNordic Environmental Protection Convention