Civil society plays a vital role in addressing major environmental challenges. To fully harness this potential, ongoing efforts are essential to uphold the public rights to promote effective and inclusive environmental governance and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
To tackle these important subjects, the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) held its twenty-eighth meeting in Geneva on 2-4 July 2024.
Parties to the Convention together with the representatives of other Member States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia and other key stakeholders came together to address a range of pressing issues, namely the impact of the war on the Convention’s implementation in Ukraine, current challenges faced by environmental defenders, the role of children and youth in the Convention’s implementation, and assistance to Parties in ensuring compliance with the Convention’s obligations. The meeting also featured two thematic sessions, on access to justice and on promoting the application of the principles of the Convention in international forums, and resulted in a number of commitments taken by Parties.
Ukraine: upholding Aarhus rights in times of war
The ongoing war in Ukraine following the invasion by the Russian Federation affects the implementation of the Aarhus Convention, with devastating impacts on people’s lives, on the environment and on social and economic development. Despite these extraordinary circumstances Ukraine continues its efforts to implement its obligations under the Aarhus Convention and its Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs).
In particular, the EcoSystem digital platform, launched in 2023, has been further expanded and includes forty datasets to date. The EcoZagroza system for controlling and monitoring the environmental situation continues to provide up-to-date information on environmental damage. Amendments to the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment entered into force to integrate features of martial law. Preparations for the National Implementation Report of the 2025 reporting cycle were also launched.
Delegates unanimously commended Ukraine for its efforts to meet its obligations under the Aarhus Convention and the Protocol in the current context and expressed their support and solidarity.
Access to Justice
To address many environmental topics, such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss and land degradation, members of the public require effective opportunities to challenge violations of laws relating to the environment. Examples shared included the first climate case before the Supreme Administrative Court of June 2023 in Finland, where NGOs argued that government inaction constituted an administrative decision not to adopt necessary climate policies. In Serbia, the High Court first granted locus standi to an environmental NGO in September 2022. The European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Directive on Environmental Crime in December 2021. An international conference on environmental justice policies also took place in September 2023 in Kyrgyzstan for the judiciary to discuss this topic.
Parties further showcased successful practices in applying collective redress in environmental matters, particularly with respect to climate change, emissions and chemicals in products. Benefits of collective redress include improved access to justice, better remedies, procedural economy for the justice system, plaintiffs, defendants and overloaded governmental bodies, strengthened enforcement of environmental law, deterrence of unlawful practices, and better protection of plaintiffs against retaliation. In the Netherlands, collective redress is used as a means of access to justice in the fields of public law and civil law but less so in criminal law. The European Union Directive 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers explicitly recognizes the Aarhus Convention. In Spain, the draft bill for transposition of the Directive was published in March 2024.
Promoting Aarhus principles in international forums
On the topic of international decision-making related to energy, Ireland presented the country’s international energy policy engagement, with a focus on the International Energy Agency and shared its experience of public engagement in the preparation of the Irish Energy Policy Review 2024, the Climate Action Plans, National Energy and Climate Plans and Energy Communities as well as the 2024 IEA Ministerial Meeting. The modernization of the Energy Charter Treaty was presented by an NGO representative as a missed opportunity to effectively engage affected communities in the process, suggesting that its investor-state dispute settlement mechanism lacked transparency and presented risks of conflict of interest. The European Commission also shared how Aarhus principles are reflected in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).
In the absence of an international forum specifically dedicated to geoengineering, Georgia noted limited public engagement as well as the lack of knowledge about the potential impacts on citizens’ lives. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chemical Sciences Laboratory (USA), discussed the relevance of scientific assessment to creating the scientific foundation that could help guide Governments in their decision whether to develop a governance framework on geo-engineering. He advocated for the establishment of globally inclusive, transparent and equitable scientific review process in this regard.
The European ECO Forum called for ensuring public participation in international regulatory initiatives in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology and blockchain and quantum technologies.
A representative of the secretariat of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) recalled that the ISA’s work is driven by Member States, who must consider contributions from public stakeholders. However, a representative of an independent group of experts described ISA’s publicly accessible information systems as difficult to use and incomplete, with stakeholder engagement discretionary, ad hoc and irregular, without independent complaints or oversight mechanisms.
Assisting Parties to ensure compliance
The meeting underscored the fundamental role the Compliance Committee plays in supporting Parties to implement the Convention, and thereby promote the rule of law and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Parties and stakeholders praised the Committee for its outstanding work, including its important role in providing advice and assistance to Parties. Noting its significant caseload, covering a wide range of environmental issues and sectors, such as biodiversity, climate change, energy, forestry, mining, urban planning and water, delegations recognized the Committee’s serious lack of resources as the key current challenge hindering its work. The Working Group unanimously agreed the urgent need to provide the Committee with further resources, on a long-term basis, to continue its vital work.
Protecting environmental defenders
Since the election of the first Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention in June 2022, the number of complaints he has received has grown rapidly, being four times higher during his second year compared to his first. Starting in November 2023, the Special Rapporteur has held consultations with environmental defenders in various regions, with further consultations planned in autumn 2024. In February 2024, the Special Rapporteur published a position paper on State repression of peaceful environmental protest and civil disobedience, drawing on more than a year of information gathering in Aarhus Parties. Following his position paper, the Special Rapporteur plans to publish guidelines to assist Parties to protect the right of peaceful environmental protest and civil disobedience in accordance with international human rights law. Parties and stakeholders will be invited to comment on the draft guidelines. Delegations stressed the need to secure sustainable funding for the Special Rapporteur’s important mandate.
Youth and children
Youth and children are becoming increasingly crucial stakeholders in the implementation of the Aarhus Convention. They face particular challenges in accessing justice and recommendations were made to remove those barriers by adopting specific rules of standing concerning youth and children individuals and organizations, reversing the burden of proof, among others. The importance of better distinguishing accurate information from misinformation to address information overload by young people was highlighted to enhance access to information. To raise awareness and support the participation of youth councils to advise public authorities were mentioned as a positive example along with the youth participation strategy developed under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Overall, participants recognized the importance of the engagement of children and youth in capacity-building activities supporting the implementation of the Aarhus Convention. This could include dedicated training on participatory rights and simplifying complex information related to the exercise of rights granted by the Aarhus Convention.