CEPAL participa en Quinta Reunión de las Partes del Convenio de Aarhus y Segunda Reunión de las Partes del Protocolo de Kiev

ECLAC, in its capacity of Technical Secretariat of the Declaration on Principle 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean, together with representatives of the governments of Chile and Costa Rica and civil society organizations from the region, took part in the Fifth Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention and the Second Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kiev Protocol held in Maastricht (Netherlands) between 29 June and 4 July 2014.

Invited by the government of the Netherlands and the Aarhus Convention Secretariat, ECLAC and the participating governments of the region presented the recent developments of the process on Principle 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean. In its statements, ECLAC noted the importance of learning from the Aarhus Convention process, especially in a key year for the Latin American and Caribbean process in which countries of the region are to decide on the nature and contents of the future regional instrument. At the same time, it recalled the need to deepen the access rights to information, participation and justice to strengthen democracy and overcome the existing asymmetries in the region. Furthermore, it outlined the existing link between the implementation of Principle 10 and the post-2015 development agenda.

The Fifth Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention welcomed the progress in developing a regional instrument on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean and offered readiness of Parties to support the region in its endeavours.

Furthermore, ECLAC participated in the side event “Building Bridges between Regions” in which Aarhus Convention parties and stakeholders exchanged experiences with ECLC on the negotiation, ratification and implementation of the Aarhus Convention so as to support the development of regional instrument on the matter in Latin America and the Caribbean and establish links between both processes.

The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters is, at present, the only binding convention on the matter under the auspices of the United Nations. Adopted in 1998 in the framework of the Economic Commission for Europe, it currently has 47 State Parties. The Kiev Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers was adopted in 2003 and currently has 33 State Parties.