The Access Initiative

Topics: Access to Information

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND SMALL FISHERS OF SOUTHERN PALAWAN: A CASE OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES’ EXCLUSION FROM THE MANAGEMENT AND UTILIZATION OF MUNICIPAL FISHERIES AND AQUATIC RESOURCES

Published: 2008

Locked up, hungry and confused, the two young men from the Molboc Tribe were finally released. They do not regret what they did. They will likely do it again if they have a chance to do so… just to put food on the table, as how their ancestors, as native fisherfolk in Balabac, Palawan, had done before.

For over two decades, members of the Molboc tribe, as well as local communities in the southern Palawan of town of Balabac, have had to endure harassment and ill-treatment from the security forces of a pearl farm corporation, which was prohibiting them, unjustly, and without any legal basis, from fishing in their traditional fishing grounds.

Calls for the local government unit (LGU) to mediate and facilitate a system for the peaceful co-existence of the pearl farm and the fisherfolks were ignored. Instead, in early 2005, the Municipality of Balabac enacted an ordinance declaring the entire municipal waters as a “Protected Eco-Region”, where fishing activities are prohibited but pearl farming is allowed.

The Ordinance came to pass notwithstanding the constitutional mandate of substantive and procedural due process, and the various legal provisions of guaranteeing citizen’s right to informed and meaningful participation in the formulation of policies concerning the management and conservation of their community’s natural resources.

In 2005, TAI – Philippines conducted a case study following the TAI Methodology that focused on (a) public access to information on the grounds for the Subject Policy, and (b) the opportunities for participation extended to the public in the enactment of the Subject Municipal Ordinance. Primarily, the actions of two government agencies – the LGU of Balabac and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) of Palawan, which reviewed and approved the Subject Municipal Ordinance – were evaluated. A total of 43 indicators (20 for access to information and 23 for opportunities for participation) were examined.

TAI – Philippines also conducted a re-assessment of the case focusing on access to justice as one of the pilot case using the Poverty Tool Kit. It was written from the point of view of the poor groups, small fishers and indigenous peoples in the Balabac case.

The importance of access to information and opportunities for participation cannot be overemphasized in this case. Given the affected communities’ history of disenfranchisement and repression, any environmental measure that would have the effect of depriving them of their traditional fishing grounds, or restricting their use of the same, requires intensive social preparation.

Widespread information dissemination and extensive community consultations must be undertaken not only to ensure that the proposed policy will be understood and well received by the individuals and communities affected, but also to make sure that substantive rights are not run over rough shod, and equity in access is ensured.

In this case, not only did the Municipality of Balabac fail to observe the foregoing processes, it also adopted a policy, purportedly for environmental protection purposes, that goes against international principles, Philippine statutory provision and established coastal resource management practices (i.e., it allowed pearl farming in a core or strict protection zone). The confluence of these circumstances has given rise to a public perception, whether rightly or wrongly, that the Subject Policy was adopted solely to accommodate Jewelmer’s Co. (the pearl farm) interests and to legitimize the prohibition that it has, for many years, foisted upon the affected communities without the sanction of law.

As things stand, it appears that the court case is the affected communities’ last remaining legal remedy. However, given the existing realities, resort to judicial action has not proven to be a speedy and adequate remedy. To date, the case remains pending, almost one year since its inception, and the Affected Communities continue to languish in poverty as they await its resolution.

It may be concluded that this predicament can be attributed to two main factors, namely: (a) gaps in existing laws; and (b) the failure of political will, the lack of a deep-seated orientation on, and capacity to implement, principles on access to information and opportunities for participation, on the part of the concerned government agencies.

It is hoped that policy reforms, enforcement actions and capability building measures, if implemented, will not only provide the affected communities with means for immediate relief, but will also prevent other IPs and fishing communities from being placed in a predicament similar to theirs, and render the processes involved less susceptible to manipulation to favor vested interests.

TAI – Philippines Case Study Writer: Atty. Jose Florante Pamfilo

See: TAI – Philippines Poverty Case Report
TAI – Philippines Case Study attached.

Smokers Dying Younger – What If Non-smokers Are Also Dying Younger?

By Ram Charitra Sah (Posted: November 21, 2008) 

Approximately half the world’s population and up to 90% of rural households in developing countries still rely on unprocessed biomass fuels in the form of wood, dung and crop residues. These are typically burnt indoors in open fires or poorly functioning stoves. As a result, there are high levels of air pollution to which women, responsible for cooking, and their young children, who mostly stay with their mother during the cooking hours, are most heavily exposed.

The extent, to which such a large mass of population is continuously exposed to heavy indoor air pollution, in the absence of harnessing technologies of alternative energy readily available in most rural areas of Nepal, is severe. Poverty is one of the main barriers to the adoption of cleaner fuels. These days, the affordability and accessibility of cleaner fuels is getting harder and harder. The standard family possesses at least two to three gas cylinders: one under use, one in the queue at a gas station, and one as a reserve. The slow pace of development in many countries suggests that biomass fuels will continue to be used by the poor for many decades.

There is consistent evidence that indoor air pollution increases the risks of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and of acute respiratory infections in childhood, the most important cause of death among children less than 5 years of age in developing countries, including Nepal. The lung is the most common site of injury by airborne pollutants. In the case of Nepal, the problem is not limited to only direct exposure related problem to indoor air pollution. It is an integrated problem with daily drudgery of women who collect the fuel wood from the ever-increasing distance of forest. Nepalese women suffer a high incidence of uterine prolapse that is likely due to carrying heavy wood loads soon after delivery. In rural India, women are engaged for six hours daily in collection of fuel wood & fodder and cooking. (Issue No. 3, December 2000).

Fuel wood constitutes 78% of the total fuel consumption, and it is one of the main causes of forest depletion. This is basically due to the absence of alternative energy harnessing technology. Most of the rural people have to depend on forest fuel wood, agricultural residues, and dung for cooking. As a result, distances from the villages to the forest have increased.

The government has so far been focusing on urban outdoor air pollution, to which only 15 % of the total country’s population is exposed. Thus, if we consider the value of life in the rural area and the urban area to be the same, there is an even more serious situation of the health hazards caused by indoor air pollution in the rural areas, which is inhabited by 85 % of the total population. Women, who are considered responsible for the cooking and collecting the fuel wood, share half of this total population. Moreover, 12 % of the child population below 5 years of age mostly stays with their mothers while cooking. Thus more than 60 % of the total populations are heavily exposed to the indoor air pollution, with poorly ventilated houses as well as inefficient cooking stoves. There is a high health impact – sickness and forest reduction is enough for the government attention to focus and address the indoor air pollution problem. It calls for greater policy reforms and will be significant for a large percentage of the population. It is also equally important in terms of gender equity and the right to live in a healthy environment, especially for children. There is a need to prioritise government policy to focus on indoor air pollution in a similar manner that it has given to urban air pollution.

The story of Kanchhi Maya Nepali began just to represent the early demise of small kids with the continuous exposure to the heavy indoor air pollution, who cannot afford processed fuel and do not have enough food to sustain the daily caloric intake recommended to remain healthy. Acute effects, however, may also include non-respiratory signs and symptoms, which may depend upon toxicological characteristics of the substances and host-related factors. Key Signs/Symptoms of the indoor air pollution are dizziness or headache, confusion, nausea/emesis, fatigue, tachycardia, eye and upper respiratory tract irritation, wheezing/bronchial constriction, persistent cough, elevated blood, carboxyhemoglobin levels, increased frequency of angina in persons with coronary heart disease. So not only are people like Kanchhi Maya Nepali, who lost her beloved son affected by this problem, but it is also the history of most rural Nepalese – non-smokers dying earlier

Ram Charitra Sah

India’s Environmental Impact Assessment Process & Failure to Protect the Yamuna River from the Thirst of Development

By Seema Kumar (Posted: October 30, 2008) 

The Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 2006 (amended in July 2004 to incorporate new and expansion/modernization projects; originally enacted in 1994) under the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 requires that a scheduled list of projects and activities must provide for public consultations and receive prior environmental clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), the environmental arm of India’s Central Government. However, there are blatant loopholes in this spineless attempt to prioritize the welfare of the environment over the continuous blossom of construction for the sake of economic development.

It has been cited in several case studies that the Yamuna River suffers from severe anthropogenic pressures, such as civic construction, alteration in landscape pollution, change in nature of vegetation, and over-exploitation of species and agriculture, which has severely diminished the river’s capacity to be a reliable source for drinking or agricultural purposes. Increasing levels of urban runoff and sewage from Delhi’s booming population contribute to Yamuna’s polluted waters and flood phenomenon, and the Yamuna floodplains are struggling to recharge its groundwater resources. Thus, it has been strongly recommended to halt civic construction in the vicinity of the river and suspend the channelization of its water, as such actions could prove fatal in the river’s ability recharge itself of its groundwater supply.

This brief note will illustrate how effortless it is for project proponents to exempt themselves from obtaining environmental clearances and holding public consultations through the lens of two development projects upon the Yamuna River (a 22km stretch of the river that flows through Delhi’s eastern border), i.e. the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. and the Commonwealth Games Village.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC)

Phase II of the DMRC project involves the construction of several railways that will, upon completion in 2011, connect Delhi and the immediate regions outside of its territory. One particular railway traverses over the Yamuna River, in addition to the construction of a Depot that would sit upon the banks of the Yamuna. The DMRC contracted with a consultancy organization called RITES to conduct the EIA study. RITES is a Government of India Enterprise, established under the aegis of Indian Railways. In 2004, RITES, to no shock, concluded that since railway (urban transportation) projects are not specified in the scheduled list of projects requiring environmental clearances, an environmental clearance and public consultations are not mandated in order to proceed construction. While public transport is a cleaner, efficient development strategy, its environmental impact must be taken into consideration.

Commonwealth Games Village (CGV)

In 2010, Delhi will host the Commonwealth Games that are held every four years in one of 53 Commonwealth countries. In preparation for the Games, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) granted a Dubai-based real estate developer, EMAAR, the bid to construct a, 63.5 hectare, residential and commercial complex to accommodate visiting athletes and gaming officials on the Yamuna River floodplain. DDA, created under the Delhi Development Act of 1957, possesses the power to acquire, hold, manage, and dispose of land to promote and secure the development of Delhi.

In 1998/’99, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) was commissioned by the DDA to prepare an Environmental Management Plan with the overall objective of rejuvenating the Yamuna River. NEERI’s ’98/’99 report suggested that recreational areas and camping sites should not be allowed to interfere with the floodplains. At this time in EIA history, it was not necessary for the DDA to obtain an environmental clearance for the CGV structure, as the schedule list had not been amended to include new construction and buildings.

Fearing the CGV structure would be considered a recreational construction, in 2005, NEERI was commissioned again to submit a similar report to the DDA on the Yamuna River. This time, the report expressly prohibited residential and industrial facilities requiring permanent structures on its riverbed. It is important to note that the DDA now needed an environmental clearance for the construction of the CGV because of the 2004 EIA Notification amendment. However, the DDA concealed this 2005 report from the MoEF until 2006, which lead to the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the MoEF, the committee that appraises EIA proposals, recommending another study be conducted on this issue by the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune (CWPRS), a R&D organization, affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.

Meantime in late 2006, the MoEF granted an environmental clearance for the CGV structure on the condition that it would not be permanent in nature. In early 2007, the CWPRS report was submitted, and based on its findings, the 2006 environmental clearance was ‘renegotiated’ between the MoEF and the DDA to essentially allow permanent structures in the Yamuna riverbed.

In January 2008, a court visit was made to the site in dispute, and immediately following this site visit, the Ministry of Science and Technology (NEERI is apart of this Minstry) and the DDA coerced NEERI to publish a report to appease the court, which concluded that a man-made bund type structure around the project would shield itself from affecting the floodplain.

It is imperative to note that not once during this entire EIA process were public consultations sought or mandated by the EIA Notification Process.

Recommendations

Based on the DMRC and CGV development projects, there are two recommendations that, if adopted, would add integrity and transparency to the EIA process (There are several other recommendations to be made – these are specific to the above examples).

First, an Independent Oversight Committee should be established as the binding authority over the MoEF. As it presently stands, the MoEF can be easily threatened by government pressure and seek out loopholes to grant environmental clearances. The EIA process should be free from political agendas and manipulative gestures and instead concentrate on the task it was enacted to do. This Committee should be comprised of environmentalists, scientific experts, construction experts who can ascertain the actual damage of development projects, representatives from tribal and/or rural communities (who are most affected by development projects because their land is resource rich), and public interest organizations who have a record of providing unbiased factual information. The Oversight Committee, by assessing MoEF grants and having the power to override the MoEF’s decision, can ensure the public that environmental clearances are granted as a result of diligent appraisal as opposed to business-as-usual tactics.

Second, public consultations should be required for all development projects and occur at various stages of the EIA process. Under the current EIA Notification, several projects, such as mining projects, modernization of existing irrigation projects, projects located in designated as special economic zones and industrial estates/townships, are exempt from public consultations. Many projects, therefore, are strategically labeled as one of the allowed exemptions to avoid public participation. Such exemptions should be eradicated from the EIA Notification, and it should be mandatory that all projects be subject to public consultations.

In addition, public consultations should be conducted at intervals during the EIA process and not simply after the EIA Report has been prepared. Public consultations should also be held after scoping and assessment of alternative sites and after impact predictions and mitigation measures have been considered to allow the public to understand and raise educated concerns throughout the EIA process. As the procedure exists now, the public consultation is a formality without any bearing on the outcome of environmental clearances. The public receives only one limited opportunity to convene to ask questions and assert their positions. Often times, they are overwhelmed with details and do not have enough background information about the project for the hearing to be meaningful.

Conclusion

The public is distrustful of the Indian government’s environmental protection commitments and rightfully so, as their concerns are secondary to economic development. The DMRC and CGV are only two of the countless examples of where the environment has lost its battle for survival because the environmental evaluation process is slanted toward private interests. In order for the EIA Notification to become a reliable act of government, substantial reformations will have to be made.

Access to Environmental Information in Uganda

Published: 2008

Access to environmental information is becoming increasingly important, especially in countries where people rely heavily on natural resources. International norms can make a significant difference in this respect, by pushing public authorities towards better environmental governance. FIELD is committed to the progressive development of international law and its effective implementation at the national and local level. FIELD has been involved in environmental law reform projects in different African jurisdictions as well as the international negotiations on climate change, biodiversity and trade. The report draws on these diverse experiences and analyses the Ugandan law and its implementation in the wider international context. It takes into account lessons learnt in other jurisdictions and uses a set of universally applicable indicators. We hope it will generate further discussions between civil society organizations and government – not only in Uganda.

Joy Hyvarinen Director, FIELD

New WRI Publication – Good Governance in the U.S. Executive Branch

By Remi Moncel (Posted: October 18, 2008) 

How will the United States’ President-elect run his administration? The answer to this question will have direct impacts on the American people’s health, safety and the quality of their environment.

The 44th President of the United States will enter office faced with an unprecedented set of complex and urgent challenges, including a fragile financial system, spiraling energy and food prices and renewed demands for leadership to combat global warming. The President will need to respond by leading an administration driven by principles of good governance: transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.

In advance of the election, voters should ask where the candidates stand on such issues as checks and balances, signing statements and scientific integrity. After the election, the transition team of the winning party should ensure that these principles of government openness drive the selection of federal agency heads and the new President’s governing style.

A new WRI policy note reveals the link between an unchecked presidency and poor policy. It reviews the practices of previous administrations in the context of relevant constitutional and legislative provisions, and attests to the vulnerability of a system of delicate checks and balances to abuse of power. In addition to the legal abuses they constitute, these cases bring to light significant negative impacts that have resulted from an opaque presidency and make the case for better governance in the next administration.

The cases examined include:

  • Abuse of signing statements. President have issued these pronouncements upon signing bills into a law to brush off important environmental, safety and civil rights provisions mandated by Congress. In 2005 for example, President Bush dismissed important whistleblower protections which Congress had included in the Energy Policy Act. The provisions granted protections to federal employees who would report safety violations in nuclear waste management.

  • National policies designed behind closed doors. Devising the country’s energy policy or health care reform in the open serves several purposes. It enables confrontation of the nation’s top experts and visions with a view to enacting the most effective policies. It guarantees the public’s right to take part in the decision and voice their priorities. Finally, transparent decision-making increases public acceptance of policies and ensures that it meets the interests of the majority over those of an influential, well-connected few. President Clinton’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform, for example, conducted its discussions and activities behind closed doors without releasing the names of the participants. Pharmaceutical companies and justice groups decried the lack of openness surrounding the President’s task force. Ultimately, the lack of political viability and public trust of the initiative caused its demise and the failure the reform the United Sates’ health care system.

  • Distortion of scientific findings. In February 2007 a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists documented “widespread political interference in federal climate science.” Almost half of the 1,600 climate scientists working in government agencies who were surveyed indicated having perceived or personally experienced pressure to eliminate the words “climate change,” “global warming” or other terms from a variety of communications. Effective environmental and health regulations and standards rely on the research and recommendations of scientific experts. Yet, in March 2008, President Bush illegally intervened in the establishment of standards for smog-forming ozone. By law, this decision rested in the hands of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and its scientists. The President nonetheless overruled their decision and, in doing so, backed more lenient requirements for a gas proven to have negative effects on human health and wildlife.

Our research puts forward a set of practical recommendations for the President-elect:

  • Government-held information should be made available to the public unless limited and clearly articulated exceptions apply. Task forces and ad-hoc committees, not otherwise governed by formal rules, should conduct their work in a transparent and inclusive manner by making publicly available the content of their deliberations as well as the names and affiliations of the participants.

  • The President should not issue signing statements to disregard or decline to enforce a law or to interpret it in a manner inconsistent with the will of Congress. In addition, executive branch officials and agencies should cooperate with Congress in its oversight duties, limit the exercise of discretionary power and abstain from asserting executive privilege to shield the administration from legitimate congressional oversight and requests for disclosure of information. Congress on the other hand should reaffirm its oversight responsibility and take necessary measures to exercise its duty even when faced with a reluctant executive branch.

  • The President should guarantee the non-partisan enforcement of the law and the scientific integrity of federal agencies by appointing administrators that will respect the advice of technical and scientific experts, pursue the non-partisan prosecution of the law and interpret legal provisions in a non-partisan and even-handed manner. The President should protect the right of scientists and researchers to publicly review and comment on documents that use their research or work. Finally, the political review and communication of findings should not undermine the integrity and independence of scientific data and analysis.

Despite the principle of checks and balances enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, Presidents retain a great deal of discretion in the exercise of power. In fact, the executive branch has been reluctant to relinquish the authority and discretion it gradually took over from the other branches of government. Neither major candidate made his views clear on all of these issues in the 2008 presidential election. On Constitution Day, over 35 public interest groups across party lines called upon the candidates to clarify their views on the constitutional issues delineated in this paper.

Voters, supported by the media, may still ask Senators Obama and McCain how they would run their administration as President. After the election, it will be the President-elect’s responsibility to ensure that these principles of good governance are implemented across federal agencies and inform his new leadership.

Original story here

Our Rights Our Information

Published: 2008

Empowering People to Demand Rights Through Knowledge

In an age where information is available at the click of a button, lack of information continues to frustrate people’s ability to make informed choices, participate in governance and hold their public authorities accountable for their actions. Governments need information to act on people’s behalf. The information they gather using public funds are for public purposes and meant for the public’s benefit. This information is a public good that we own collectively .

The right to information is a fundamental and pivotal human right. It is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protected in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It lies at the centre of the human rights discourse as it is more than simply a freestanding right – it is also a practical tool by which people can come to understand their rights and demand that they are fulfilled.

Knowledge educates and empowers. Knowledge forms the basis for the full development of the human personality, enabling people to form opinions, to make informed decisions and to participate fully in public decision making from a position of equality. Implementing legislation which provides a legally enforceable public right to information can be the key to establishing participatory democracy and can be a crucial step towards engendering more systematic protection for human rights.

“Our Rights, Our Information”, in its collection of case studies from across the globe, testify to the power of right to information laws in bringing about the practical realisation of human rights for everyday people. Time and time again, these stories demonstrate how access to information has provided the means for people to demand respect for their rights, from the right to food, health care and education, to the right to be free from gender discrimination, torture and inhuman treatment.

Assessing Access in Yunnan, China

Posted by Monika Kerdeman

The Yunnan coalition started their TAI assessment process during a training workshop from Jan 13-15, 2008, led byTAI core team partner Thailand Environment Institute. The coalition of civil society groups includes Eco-Watch, Yunnan Academy of Social Science (YASS), Yunnan Institute of Environmental Science (YIES), Yunnan Environmental Science Society (YESS) and Centre for Mountain Ecosystem Studies ICRAF-China, the coalition’s lead organization.

At the workshop, coalition members were trained on the TAI Assessment Toolkit. Since the training, the Yunnan TAI coalition translated the indicators in the TAI Assessment toolkit into Chinese, and gathered information and relevant documentation, laws, regulations and guidelines for review.

As part of their research, Yunnan coalition members met with the Provincial Water Bureau, Yunnan Provincial Environment Protection Bureau, Agricultural Bureau, Yunnan Provincial Forestry Department, Vegetative Protection Station, Air Quality Monitoring Station, local agricultural stations, environmental protection stations and other related sectors to acquire more information. Interviewees included experts, villagers, and consumers as well as local authority staff.

The Assessment in Yunnan examines eight case studies on access to information. These studies are on various environmental issues including; the state of environment report of Yunnan Province, air quality monitoring in Kunming city, accidental explosion at a sulfur depot and vitriol factory of the Sanhuan chemical company, noise quality monitoring in Kunming city, environmental information of Yuntianhua International Chemical Company in Yunnan, monitoring of drinking water quality in Songhuaba reservoir in Kunming, GMO information monitoring in Yunnan, and paraquat herbicide accidents in Yunnan.

Five case studies on public participation are: public participation in environment protection decisions in eco-tourism policy in Diqing prefecture, public participation in the urban agglomeration development plan in south of Yunnan, public participation in the extension project of the 2nd hospital of Kunming, public participation in the water saving regulatory of Kunming city, public participation in decision-making of Provincial Forestry Development Strategy and public participation in the environmental impact assessment of the construction of Honghe Steel Factory..

The research also looks at access to justice. The access to justice case studies are on pesticide residue information in food – claimed by people to the people’s congress, public’s claim on the dam building on Salween River, local residents’ collective claim on old trees felled by a company in Baiyu Village, Xishan District of Kunming, and the claim on the pollution accident of Longma Phosphorous Chemical Company in Xundian, Yunnan.

Zinc and Lead Flowing Into the River of Kamenicka Reka

By Kiril Ristovski (Posted: August 29, 2008) 

This month the TAI research team from Macedonia explored one of the largest cases of pollution of the river Kamenicka Reka. Namely, the mine Metal SASA is working near to Kamenicka Reka . After average of slag effusion done in 2003, reported spilling of an 70000-100.000 m3 metals of lead and zinc by the SASA mine. The authorities did not take appropriate measures to stop or prevent the pollution of the river.

The TAI team has conducted research for this case and acknowledges the discovery of serious information. A few months ago, the citizens of this city had collected and supplied signatures to the Ministry of Environment in order to get information regarding the pollution levels of the river. The local residents claim that despite supplying a list of residents signatures, they did not receive the requested information and remain uninformed.

When the TAI researchers made a request to the State Inspectorate for the Environment for the information of this case, the team was informed that there is no pollution in the river. Yet, the TAI team received results from private measuring conducted by a private laboratory on the request of NGO Zdravec and DEM from MACEDONIA. The results show clearly that water of Kamenicka Reka, flowing across Makedonska Kamenica, is alarmingly polluted with lead, zinc and cadmium. The results that TAI received from NGO Zdravec show high concentrations of dangerous metals that are 2-6 times above the maximum limit.

The local residents claim that water is polluted because of the mine SASA located near by the river. Throughout the week this mine spills slags of metals in to the river. Many residents verified this serious fact during interviews with TAI team researchers.

The TAI team has made an effort in this case, making public announcements intended to inform the public of this rampant pollution, and to persuade competent institutions to increase efforts to stop this pollution process. Rather than avoiding responsibilities, the State Inspectorate for Environment needs to take action, to conduct water measurements and to implement penalties for non-compliance. Typical in this case is that the Ministry for Environment denies that the river is polluted, despite opposition from the TAI team.

It is very important to mention that this river is pouring into the Kalimanci accumulation, water that is in use for watering many agricultural fields.

This TAI story was published on 08/21/2008 in most popular editions of dally newspapers “DNEVNIK” and “Macedonian Sun”.

Posted by Kiril Ristovski

Chile Enacts Access to Public Information Law

Posted By Daniel Barragan (August 19, 2008) 

Last week, President Bachelet of Chile enacted the Law for Civil Service Transparency and Access to Informationof the State Administration Organs. Under the new law, all state administration agencies -at the central, regional or community level- will be obliged to provide, within a maximum of twenty days, information requested by any citizen.

State agencies are also required to publish on their websites, in a mandatory, permanent and updated form, information relating to their internal structure, functions, powers, performing contracts, staffing, salaries, fees, acquisitions, transfers of funds and results of audits.

Corporación Participa, our lead Chilean TAI partner, had participated in the lobbying through: generating public discussions, drafting a proposal for the counselors’ selection process and promoting opinion and analysis in the media.

Additionally, Participa had trained public officials, media and civil society organizations in access rights, with the goal of building capacity to implement the Law.

Chile promulga Ley de Acceso a la Información Pública

La semana pasada, la Presidenta Bachelet promulgó la Ley sobre Transparencia de la Función Pública y Acceso a la Información de los Órganos de la Administración del Estado. De conformidad con la nueva ley, todos los organismos de la administración estatal -sean del nivel central, regional o comunal- estarán obligados a entregar en un plazo máximo de veinte días la información solicitada por cualquier ciudadano.

A la vez, los organismos públicos deben publicar en sus sitios web, en forma obligatoria, permanente y actualizada, información relacionada con su estructura interna, funciones, competencias, contratos que realizan, dotación de personal, remuneraciones, honorarios, adquisiciones, transferencias de fondos y resultados de auditorías, entre otros antecedentes.

Corporación Participa, nuestro socio TAI en Chile, ha participado en el proceso de cabildeo mediante: la generación de debates públicos, la redacción de una propuesta para el proceso de selección de los consejeros y promoviendo opinión y análisis en los medios.

Adicionalmente, Participa ha capacitado a funcionarios públicos, prensa y organizaciones de la sociedad civil en esta materia, con el propósito de crear capacidades para la aplicación de la Ley.

Fuentes / sources:
http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/viewNoticia.aspx?idArticulo=24…
http://www.iniciativaacceso.org

Tribals Fight for Access Rights in North East India

By Ritwick Dutta (August 16, 2008) 

There are reasons to smile for the members of the Idu Mishmi community in the North Eastern State of Arunachal Pradesh located in the Himalayan Mountain Ranges: The Government on 13-08-08 has cancelled the proposed Public Hearing for the proposed 3000 MW Hydel Power Dam to be located in Dibang District of Arunachal Pradesh.

For more than a year, local tribal communities have been protesting against the dam touted to be among the highest in the Country on the ground that it woud devastate the fragile ecology and destroy the culture and livelihood of the Idu Mishmi Community numbering only 8000 Individuals.

The Dibang Dam is a classic instance of a fight of a local community for access to Information and Participation and a partial victory of the community. When the first Public Hearing was announced, local tribal community sent a legal notice through Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) requesting for postponement of the hearing in view of the fact that the Environment Impact Assessment Report was not available at designated places and only an electronic version was made available in a state where people hardly had access to Internet. The Government relented and directed that no Public Hearing be conducted till the required EIA Reports are made available at the designated places for access to the community. The Public Hearing was planned over two phases. The first Public Hearing saw large scale protests by community members.

As the Public Hearing process was underway, in a shocking development aimed clearly at undermining the Public consultation process, the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh decided to lay the foundation stone for the project at Itanagar, the State Capital located more than 500 Km from the project site ! This was met with stiff opposition both locally and nationally.

Finally, the date for the second Public Hearing was fixed on 20-8-2008. However, the community was shocked to learn that the place for conducting the Public Hearing was more than 100 Km from the affected villages and project site. The Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 provides for conducting the Public Hearing in or in proximity to the project site. In the North Eastern Part of the country characterized by undulating terrain and heavy rainfall travelling 100 Km could very well take even upto a day’s journey.

The Community members with the support of Neeraj Vagholikar of NGO Kalpavriksh contacted Rahul Choudhary, Environmental lawyer and member of TAI Himalayan Coalition who immediately shot off a legal notice during the first week of August, 2008 citing violation of Principles of Natural Justice and provisions of the EIA procedure by conducting the Public Hearing at such a distant place which would make it difficult for the affected community to participate and thereby defeating the whole purpose of Public Hearing.

See also A Public Hearing without the ‘real’ public: Notes from TAI Himalayas

On 13th August, Community members were pleasantly surprised to know that the proposed Public Hearing has been cancelled. Even more important was the fact that the Chief Minister of the State has called for a meeting with all the concerned organizations who have been raising the issue with respect to the Dam to be held on 20-8-2008.

The happenings in the far eastern State of Arunachal has important lessons for the rest of the Country. The community is convinced that there is no use of Public Consultation unless it is based on adequate and proper information about the dam and its impact and the fact that people should be able to participate effectively in the Public Hearing. Easy access to the place where the Public Hearing is conducted is as important as access to information. In the absence of these pre conditions, the Public Hearing process becomes a mere formality and procedure to be accomplished in the EIA process. For the Idu Mishmi Community, it is their first step in securing their access rights.

Ritwick Dutta Ritwick (ritwickdutta@gmail.com) is the leader of the TAI Himalayan Coalition and the founder of Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) and is based in New Delhi