ACHIEVING “CLIMATE JUSTICE”

MICHAEL STANLEY-JONES, UNECE

In recent decades, the concept and practice of participatory democracy has gained increasing support and recognition. Involving the public in decision-making processes is widely believed to improve the quality of the resulting decisions as well as tending to strengthen public belief in the credibility of the decision-making process and its outcome. Aside from the practical benefits arising from public involvement, there is also growing support for the notion that the public is entitled to see its views reflected in the decisions of public authorities on an ongoing basis, i.e. that it has certain rights.

No where are these rights in need of greater exercise than in the emerging international regime addressing climate change.

The emergence of participatory democracy, as a concept that enhances and complements representative democracy, is reflected to a modest extent in global and regional declarations and instruments. Perhaps the most far-reaching example of the latter is the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention).

An Environment and Human Rights Convention
The Aarhus Convention is a new kind of environmental agreement, which links environmental rights and human rights. It acknowledges that we owe an obligation to future generations. It establishes that sustainable development can be achieved only through the involvement of all stakeholders. It links government accountability and environmental protection. It goes to the heart of the relationship between people and governments. The Convention is therefore not only an environmental agreement; it is also a Convention about government accountability, transparency and responsiveness.

The Convention sets out the key elements of public participation and its provisions have become widely recognized as a benchmark for what is sometimes described as environmental democracy. They include access to environmental information, early and ongoing involvement of the public in decisionmaking, broad scope of participation, transparent and user-friendly processes, an obligation on authorities to take account of public input, a supportive infrastructure and effective means of enforcement/appeal.

Principle 10 and the Climate Change Convention
The origin of the Convention can be traced back to Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted in 1992.¹ This principle provides for the participation of citizens in environmental issues by giving them appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including access to judicial or administrative proceedings, redress and remedy.

The Convention was adopted on 25th June 1998 and entered into force on 30 October 2001. To date, forty-one countries and the European Community have become Parties to the Convention.² Many of these are countries with economies in transition; for example, ten of the twelve countries of the former Soviet Union have become Parties. Several Western European countries have ratified the Convention, and others, as well as the European Union itself, are actively working towards ratification and are expected to become Parties within the next couple of years. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development also produced the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which bears the mark of principle 10. Article 6 of the UNFCCC addresses education, public awareness,
access to information, public participation and international cooperation.

UNFCCC underlined the importance of these principles at its thirteenth session, encouraging Parties to facilitate access to data and information and to promote public participation in addressing climate change and its effects and in developing adequate responses. ³ Environmental information can help to raise awareness about climate change issues and strengthens the synergies between mitigation and adaptation needs. The public’s participation in this process ensures that social values and tradeoffs are represented in political decisions on climate related issues. Access to scientifically-based information and public participation in decision-making on environmental issues – as provided by the Aarhus Convention – are widely recognized as an important foundation for climate change mitigation efforts.

Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers
At their extraordinary meeting on 21 May 2003 in Kiev, the Parties to the Aarhus Convention adopted a Protocol to the Convention on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers. Whereas the Convention primarily establishes obligations on public authorities towards the public, the Protocol introduces a new dimension in that implies reporting obligations for the private sector and may therefore be seen as a tool promoting corporate accountability in a specific context. Pollutant release and transfer registers have proven to be a highly effective and relatively low cost means of gathering environmental information from the private sector and putting it into the public domain, thereby exerting a downward pressure on levels of pollution. The Protocol was signed by thirty-six States and the European Community. It is expected to enter into force in 2009.

The Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR) to the Aarhus Convention requires Governments to collect annual reports on major greenhouse gas emissions (among other pollutants) by industry on a facility-byfacility basis and to share this information with the public. National registers created under the Protocol can help countries meet the objectives of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.⁴

Achieving “Climate Justice”
In 2006, Parties to the UNFCCC called on a “more active role of United Nations bodies... to facilitate the continued implementation of outreach activities and to identify consistent methodologies for undertaking work at the national, sub-regional and national levels”.

In turn, Parties to the Aarhus Convention should ensure that Aarhus Convention’s requirements are implemented in environmental decision-making on the national climatechange agenda, both in the process of preparing strategic decisions to address the climate change agenda and in the decisions themselves. The Aarhus Convention’s secretariat and capacity-building partners are working to assist countries in implementing their UNFCCC Article 6 commitments, in particular those related to public access to information and public participation in decision-making.
Rights to access information and participate in environmental decision-making are fundamental components of the global effort to achieve the climate change agenda, what some have termed “climate justice”. The experience gained under the Aarhus Convention and its Protocol on PRTR, by reflecting best practice in good governance, accountability and transparency for citizens and stakeholders, is helping shape this new international regime on climate change and justice.

¹ Principle 10 reads as follows: “Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided.”

² As of 11 November 2008. For a complete listing, see www.unece.org/env/pp/ratification.htm.

³ Decision 9/CP.13, annex, paragraphs 14 and 15 (FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1), amended the New Delhi Work Programme on article 6 of the UNFCCC. The thirteenth session was held from 3 to 15 December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia.

⁴ Annex II of the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers includes the major greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol.