important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...
important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...
important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...
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Exist<strong>in</strong>g legislation & programmesIPAs <strong>and</strong> the Aarhus Convention on Public ParticipationContextThe Aarhus Convention is an environmental treaty with t<strong>hr</strong>ee pillars, which grantscitizens access to environmental <strong>in</strong>formation, the right of public participation <strong>in</strong>environmental decision mak<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> the right of access to justice if public (local,regional, <strong>and</strong> national government) environmental decisions are made without referenceto the rights outl<strong>in</strong>ed above.ReferencesThe Aarhus Convention(www.unece.org/env/pp/)The European Commission <strong>and</strong> theAarhus Convention (www.europa.eu.<strong>in</strong>t/comm/environment/aarhusThe Convention was negotiated by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)<strong>and</strong> signed <strong>in</strong> 1998 at the Fourth M<strong>in</strong>isterial Meet<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the ‘Environment for Europe’process. It br<strong>in</strong>gs together environmental rights <strong>and</strong> human rights <strong>and</strong> was triggered byPr<strong>in</strong>ciple 10 of the Rio Convention (the CBD). 40 countries <strong>in</strong> Europe are signatories ofthe Aarhus Convention.The EU is also a signatory <strong>and</strong> has two directives relat<strong>in</strong>g to theaccess to <strong>in</strong>formation <strong>and</strong> public participation.These EU directives should be enforced <strong>in</strong>the national legislation of member states by 2005.IPAs <strong>and</strong> the Aarhus ConventionThe aims of the IPA project <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>formation about priority <strong>plant</strong> sites must bedissem<strong>in</strong>ated to a wide public audience <strong>in</strong> order to facilitate public participation <strong>in</strong>environmental decision-mak<strong>in</strong>g.Current progressIn the seven partner countries, Russia <strong>and</strong> the south east Europe region there have beenmany articles, leaflets <strong>and</strong> publicity material, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g a radio show <strong>in</strong> the CzechRepublic.At the start of 2005 there will be national publications about IPAs <strong>in</strong> each ofthe seven partner countries <strong>and</strong> also a regional overview <strong>in</strong> English, which will bepublicly available <strong>in</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>t or over the web. Plantlife International is also develop<strong>in</strong>g thepublic access section of their website, <strong>in</strong> consultation with partners, which could allowpublic access to fact-sheets about IPAs <strong>in</strong> participat<strong>in</strong>g countries.ANCA SARBU101
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