Region's Countries Will Discuss Rights of Access in Environmental Matters in Guadalajara

The Second Meeting of Focal Points of the signatories of the Declaration on the implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is being organized by ECLAC and the Government of Mexico (with the support of the state of Jalisco), will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on 16 and 17 April 2013.

In June 2012, at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), signatory countries to the Declaration stated: "Twenty years after the Earth Summit, we reiterate that, as recognized in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens".

The meeting will be attended by delegates from 13 countries that have signed the Declaration on the implementation of Principle 10 to date. They are Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay, and may be joined by others. International officials and civil society experts will also take part.

The opening ceremony will be held on Tuesday 16 April at 9.45 a.m. (Mexican time), and the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, is expected to take part in the closure of the meeting on Wednesday 17 April at 1.00 p.m.

At the Rio+20 Conference held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, the Declaration on the implementation of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development was signed. In the Declaration, the signatories agreed to develop and implement an action plan for 2014, with the support of ECLAC as technical secretariat. This second meeting of focal points aims precisely to discuss and approve that action plan.

The aim of approving the 2014 action plan is to make progress towards the conclusion of a regional agreement or other instrument to advance the full implementation of the rights of access to information, participation and justice in environmental matters for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ECLAC document Access to information, participation and justice in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean: situation, outlook and examples of good practice will also be presented in Guadalajara.

The end of the meeting on Principle 10 will mark the beginning of the public consultation: Realizing the future we want in Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards a post-2015 development agenda, which is being organized until 19 April by the Government of Mexico, with the support of ECLAC, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

This meeting will gather civil society's opinions on development issues, thereby promoting rights of access as discussed at the meeting on Principle 10.

See the programme for the second meeting of focal points by clicking here.

To see this Conference using webstreaming, please click on the following link ://xs-polycom.cloudapp.net/sre/

The event will take place at Hilton Guadalajara Hotel (Avenida de las Rosas 2933, Guadalajara, Jalisco, 44530, México).

For more information see ://www.cepal.org/rio20/principio10/

Press contact:

ECLAC Subregional headquarters in Mexico.

María Luisa Díaz de León. 

E-mail: marialuisa.diaz@cepal.org; Mobile: (52 55) 5416 9297

ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section.
ECLAC headquarters: Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago.
E-mail: prensa@cepal.org, Telephone: (562) 2210 2040.

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