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Joint Meeting on public participation in environmental decision-making: focus on strategic environmental assessment

29 - 30 October 2012
Geneva Switzerland

The meeting was organized under the auspices of the Aarhus Convention’s Task Force on Public Participation in Decision-making (TF on PPDM) and the Bureau under the Protocol on SEA to the Espoo Convention, as foreseen in the respective programme of work and workplan of the two treaties. The meeting served as the third meeting of the TF on PPDM.

The meeting had a key role in contributing to the development of recommendations that are being prepared under the two treaties for improving the implementation of their respective provisions:
(i)    the second draft of the Aarhus Convention’s draft Recommendations on Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making
(ii)   draft Good Practice Recommendations on Public Participation in Strategic Decision-making.
Participants had an opportunity to discuss and provide input on both sets of draft recommendations.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for participants to discuss key issues of concern for Parties and stakeholders with respect to the implementation of the SEA Protocol and articles 7 and 8 of the Aarhus Convention. It examined obstacles and challenges to effective public participation in strategic decision-making, as well as good practices and innovative tools to address them.

For further information on this event please see the links below.

Documents

Documents ENG FRE RUS
Provisional Agenda                                                                                        PDF    
Report PDF PDF PDF
Aarhus Convention's Recommendations on Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making (second draft in clean text) DOC   DOC
Aarhus Convention's Recommendations on Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making (second draft in track changes format) DOC    
SEA Protocol's Good Practice Recommendations on Public Participation in Strategic Decision-making (draft, 28 August 2012) DOC   DOC

Presentations

Presentations ENG FRE RUS
Overview of key challenges to ensuring effective public participation
in strategic environmental decision-making
     
SEA and public participation - some strategic thoughts
Mr. Richard Macrory, University College London, United Kingdom
PDF    
Practical experiences of organizing public participation in SEA in transboundary contexts
Mr. Piotr Otawski, Ministry of Environment, Poland
PDF    
Main obstacles to effective public participation in strategic environmental
decision-making in countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia
Mr. Dmytro Skrylnikov, European ECOForum
PDF    
Main obstacles to effective public participation in strategic environmental
decision-making in the countries of the European Union
Mr. Michael Ewing, European ECOForum
PDF    
Innovative approaches to public participation in environmental decision-making
Ms. Maria Partidario, International Association for Impact Assessment
PDF    
Special focus: Public participation in draft legislation      
Experiences of public participation in the European Commission's Impact
Assessment with respect to EU legislation
Mr. Georges Kremlis, DG Environment, European Commission
PDF    
Public participation on Greece’s draft bill of biodiversity
Ms. Katerina Skouria and Ms. Evelina Stamouli, Ministry for Environment,
Energy and Climate Change, Greece
PDF    
Public participation regarding Armenia’s draft environmental legislation
Mrs. Aida Iskoyan, Ministry for Nature Protection, Armenia
    PDF
Special focus: Public participation in plans, programmes and policies      
Sustainable development      
Public participation in the era of the green economy
Mr. Francesco Le Camera, Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea, Italy
PDF    
Public participation regarding the Eastern Partnership Roadmap, Ukraine
Mr. Andriy Andrusevich, Resource & Analysis Center "Society and Environment”, Ukraine
PDF    
France’s Grenelle Environnement and the French Environmental Conference
Mr. Tomas Legoupil, Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development
and Territorial Planning, France
PDF    
Energy and climate change      
Public participation regarding Nordland County Council regional climate plan
Mr. Dag Bastholm, Nordland County Council, Norway
PDF    
Public participation in strategic energy-related planning in the United Kingdom
Ms. Naomi Luhde-Thompson, Friends of the Earth, United Kingdom
PDF    
Agriculture and food security      
Public participation regarding Spain’s Sustainable Rural Development Programme
Ms. Ana Vicente Rangel, Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Environment, Spain
PDF    
Marine protection      
Public participation in the establishment of Marine Protected Areas
Ms. Anne Lettaye, Marine Protected Areas Agency, France
PDF