"Eco-Accord" Projects on Aarhus Convention/PRTR

Aarhus Convention/PRTR

Eco-Accord Center and the Aarhus Convention

1. Aarhus Convention

The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was adopted on 25 June 1998 in Aarhus, Denmark, by the Fourth Conference of Ministers in “Environment for Europe” process. The Aarhus Convention gives rights to the public and imposes obligations on its Parties in the areas of access to information, public participation and access to justice. Non-governmental organisations (including Eco-Accord Center) under the auspices of European ECO-Forum took active part in the negotiation process.

Three years later, in October 2001, the Convention entered into force. The ratifications included 10 countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine). Now these countries are facing the need to implement Aarhus principles.

What are the major principles of the Aarhus Convention? First of all, these include:

Ensuring active public access to information;
Public participation in environmental decision-making, in development of environmental policy, programs, plans;
Consideration of public opinion in environmental decision-making, during the development of environmental policy, programs and plans;
Ensuring public access to justice in environmental matters;
Support to non-governmental environmental organizations, transforming national legislation to correspond to this principle;
Parties should ensure the application of Aarhus principles in international environmental decision-making.

Eco-Accord Center took active part in the preparatory process on the text of Aarhus Convention. Now it acts for the implementation of its principles in real life.

2. Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR)

One of the obligations in the field of collection and dissemination of environmental information in the Aarhus Convention is the obligation of Parties to develop national inventory systems or registers and to ensure public access to electronic databases. Such systems may include the pollutant release and transfer registers which include information about specific pollutants and products, including use of water, energy and other natural resources, in specific activities, information about their movement outside of facility for disposal, treatment or land filling.

Based on this provision of the Aarhus Convention, it was decided to develop a Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR). The text was negotiated during 2 years by PRTR Working Group. The Protocol was adopted at the special session of the Meeting of Parties to the Aarhus Convention on 21 May 2003 at the fifth Conference of Ministers “Environment for Europe” in Kiev. The development of PRTRs will provide the public with real opportunity to receive information about pollution in accordance with the principles of Aarhus Convention. According to PRTR Protocol, electronic databases should be placed in facilities accessible to the public, for example in libraries. Eco-Accord Center participated in the activities of the PRTR Working Group that drafted the Protocol.

3. Environmental Monitoring and Reporting

The establishment of national PRTRs in accordance with the Protocol to Aarhus Convention will significantly facilitate the collection of data on specific pollutants. Such data are extremely needed in course of the preparation of national state of environment reports and other environmental reports.

The Aarhus Convention provides for the obligations of Parties to make information accessible in electronic form and via Internet. The Convention underlines that such information should include, in particular, State of Environment Reports, as well as plans and programs in field of environmental protection. Parties shall regularly (at least once in 3-4 years) release and distribute national state of environment reports.

Eco-Accord Center is a member of the UNECE Working Group on Environmental Monitoring. Two documents were prepared in the framework of the project "Environmental Reporting in NIS: Review and Recommendations": 1) State of the environment reporting in NIS and 2) Recommendations on national environmental reporting in NIS. Kiev Ministerial Conference “Environment for Europe” (21-23 May 2003) approved these documents as Guidelines on improving national state of the environment reporting and Recommendations on strengthening national environmental monitoring and information
systems in EECCA.

For more information contact:

Olga Speranskaya, Eco-Accord Center
speransk@leadnet.ru