The Access Initiative

Topics: Access to Information

Los derechos de acceso presentes en la Cumbre de CELAC

By Daniel Barragan (Posted: February 19, 2013)

Los días 27 y 28 de Enero del 2013 se realizó en Santiago de Chile la I Cumbre de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC).

La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y del Caribe agrupa a todos los países de América Latina y el Caribe. Fue creada el 23 de febrero de 2010 en sesión de la Cumbre de la unidad de América Latina y el Caribe, en la ciudad de Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, México.

Es un organismo intergubernamental de ámbito regional, heredero del Grupo de Río y la CALC, la Cumbre de América Latina y del Caribe que promueve la integración y desarrollo de los países latinoamericanos.

Los Gobiernos se reunieron en esta oportunidad con el propósito de avanzar en la unidad e integración política, económica, social y cultural de nuestra región.

La Declaración acordada por los Gobiernos destaca la importancia de un diálogo permanente fundado en el principio de la complementariedad y orientado a alcanzar los mejores resultados para lograr el desarrollo solidario e inclusivo de los Estados latinoamericanos y caribeños.

En el párrafo 60 de la Declaración los Gobiernos establecen “Valoramos las iniciativas para la implementación regional del Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río 1992, referido a los derechos de acceso a información, participación y justicia ambiental, como una contribución relevante para la participación de la comunidad organizada comprometida con el Desarrollo Sostenible”.

Es importante destacar el liderazgo que tuvo el Gobierno de Chile para lograr la inclusión de esta mención y valoración del proceso que se ha iniciado en América Latina y el Caribe donde 11 países de la Región en la Conferencia de Desarrollo Sostenible Río+20 celebrada en Río de Janeiro, Brasil en Junio del 2012, 11 países de América Latina y El Caribe (ALC) con el firme apoyo de la sociedad civil y de organismos internacionales como la CEPAL iniciaron un proceso político para la creación de un instrumento para la región que promueva la cabal implementación de los derechos de acceso a la información, la participación y la justicia en la toma de decisiones ambientales. Estos derechos de acceso están contemplados en el Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río de la Cumbre de la Tierra de 1992.

Específicamente los Gobiernos de Brasil, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Jamaica, México, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, República Dominicana y Uruguay firmaron la Declaración sobre Aplicación del Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo dando inicio a un proceso para crear un instrumento regional que promueva la transparencia, inclusividad y rendición de cuentas en la toma de decisiones ambientales.

Para mayor información de la CELAC:

http://www.gob.cl/cumbres/celac-ue/

http://www.parlatino.org/en/proyecto-de-la-celac.html

Open Government and Climate

By Carole Excell (Posted: April 28, 2016)

At the Paris climate conference (COP21) in December 2015 countries adopted a legally binding global climate Agreement that seeks to avoid the impacts of climate change by limiting global warming to below 2°C. The Paris Agreement demands that countries can no longer make “business as usual” decisions and have to adopt voluntary “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) or plans on how they will reduce the release of greenhouse gases, adopt low carbon emission strategies and adapt to climate change. Climate change advocates acknowledge that progress on the new Agreement relies on the implementation of NDCs in a transparent, inclusive and equitable manner.

The Agreement is premised on enhanced transparency, accountability and participation: i.Transparency on greenhouse gas emissions, targets and their adequacy and the implementation of mitigation actions and adaptation efforts; ii.Transparency on the level of financial support, technology transfer and capacity building provided or received; iii.Transparency as part of the compliance and review process; iv.Transparency on policy and project level decision-making that can contribute to decarbonisation of the economy at national, subnational and company levels; v.Capacity building and public participation to enhance actions under the Agreement; vi.Measures to ensure the creation of accountable and inclusive institutions for national climate action.

These principles offer fertile soil for using open government reforms to advance climate action. Tracking the performance of the development and implementation of domestic policies to meet the ambition of the NDCs and ultimate objectives of the Paris Agreement is essential for ensuring accountability. There are concrete opportunities under the Agreement for designing enhanced transparency rules and modalities to enhance measurement, reporting and verification processes, and to develop inclusive and participatory decision-making processes.

The convening power of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) provides new opportunities for Governments to adopt climate commitments in National Action Plans (NAPs). While only a few countries have adopted such commitments to date (USA, Mexico, and France) many more are keen to learn and adopt open climate commitments in their NAPs.

As the incoming co-chairs of the OGP the World Resources Institute and the Government of France have produced guidance for integrating climate commitments in OGP National Action Plans under three themes.

  1. More transparent and participatory development of climate polices at the national and international level.

  2. Providing user-friendly data and information regarding climate-related action.

  3. Measures to ensure the creation of accountable and inclusive institutions for national climate action.

The Open Government Summit in Paris in December 2016 will provide an excellent opportunity to bring together the climate change and open government communities to accelerate progress on climate action. The OGP process enables governments to make real commitments on transparency and open government to help people and the planet address one of the world’s most serious and pressing environmental problems. WRI stands ready to provide support for countries committed to effective climate action. We would love to crowd source comments and thoughts from civil society and governments on how you perceive this work in your country and the open government innovations you think are possible. Open Government and Climate should no longer be seen as separate communities for spurring progress on climate action but have to potential to develop an integrated approach to help save our planet and the most vulnerable people impacted by climate change. – See more at: http://www.opengovpartnership.org/blog/ogp-webmaster/2016/04…

The Open Government Partnership – Increasing Natural Resource Commitments

By Carole Excell (Posted: March 15, 2016)

The Open Government Partnership provides an opportunity for Governments to make commitments to improve open government and participation of citizens. Natural Resource Commitments have not yet been high on the agenda of Governments of the partnership with less than 5% of the total number of commitments being focused on natural resource openness. Most of the commitments made in the natural resource sector have been centered on the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. The Natural Resource and Openness Working Group is working to change this and has issued a number of Issue briefs to support Governments in thinking about the types of commitments that could be made in relation to the sector. One new issue brief just released centers around how governments can promote disclosure of environmental information through the partnership. It provides recommendations on commitments around environmental portals, release of documentation relevant to local communities, monitoring, enforcement and environmental impacts.

LAC P10 – Environmental Information

By Carole Excell (Posted: March 4, 2016)

A very successful webinar was held by The Access Initiative to discuss articles 4-7 of the preliminary document on the Regional Principle 10 agreement today. Presenters Andrea Cerami from CEMDA in Mexico and Danielle Andrade from Goffe Law, Jamaica provided information on the upcoming Negotiations in Uruguay from April 4-8. They described the provisions likely to be negotiated and contributions and positions of Government on a number of issues including .

Restrictions on the application of the agreement beyond national law

Extend of or Scope of the Agreement

Application to Vulnerable groups

Time limits for provision of access to information

Provisions on enforcement of access to information rules and requirements.

Strengthening the Right to Information for People and the Environment

STRIPE is an important resource in countries all over the world which do not have mandatory environmental disclosure regimes that require companies to disclose the types of pollutants that are being released into air, water, and land. Currently STRIPE is being utilized in Indonesia to help local Serang communities address the water pollution from the IKPP Pulp and Paper mill in the Ciujung River. It is also being utilized in Mongolia where partners are working with two communities concerned about water pollution in the Tuul River caused by mining and poor waste water treatment. STRIPE uses the following steps to achieve its goals:

  • Assess the challenges facing local communities concerned about air and/or water pollution released from local facilities
  • Evaluate the legal framework of the country including the laws governing the pollution control, the public release of environmental information, as well as basic freedom of information laws
  • Analyze the information that is available proactively – information that should be publically available without being formally requested
  • File information requests with government agencies to obtain any further information needed on pollution emissions and permitting abd track the results
  • Utilize the information gained from the above processes to develop advocacy messages and strategies that address community concerns.

Why Are Environmental Rights So Hard to Assess?

This blog was originally posted on WRI Insights on June 11, 2015.

By Nicholas Tagliarino and Lalanath de Silva

WRI and the Access initiative (TAI) recently launched the Environmental Democracy Index (EDI), the first online platform that tracks and scores 70 countries’ progress in enacting national laws that promote transparency, accountability and citizen engagement in environmental decision-making. These three “environmental democracy” principles are foundational elements for sustainable development and for ensuring basic human rights. While EDI resulted in a comprehensive ranking of countries, the story doesn’t end there. Truly evaluating environmental rights in countries around the world is a lot more complicated than one might think.

The Environmental Democracy Index

EDI assesses national laws against a set of 75 legal indicators designed to show whether a country’s laws conform with the UNEP Bali Guidelines, a set of principles meant to guarantee environmental democracy. EDI’s scores provide insight on the best and worst countries for environmental democracy. National laws establish a foundation on which environmental advocacy can take place. Laws often provide the public and the environment with a set of guaranteed protections. They also serve as a point of reference when the public wishes to challenge government and private actor decisions that harm the environment. While the legal language of environmental democracy laws is important to assess, it also matters whether these laws are actually being implemented, and if there is an enabling environment for citizens to fully capitalize on opportunities set out in these laws. This more comprehensive assessment of environmental democracy depends on broader questions, such as: Are laws enforced and respected in a particular country? Are governments behaving corruptly? Is there an enabling environment for citizens to exercise these rights? Are human rights being violated? EDI has a limited set of 24 practice indicators that provide insight into discrete aspects of law implementation, but these are not yet comprehensive, and practice indicator scores are not accounted for in EDI countries’ overall scores. Viewing EDI’s results together with other global indices provides deeper insights on the extent to which environmental democracy is practiced around the world.

Other Assessments of Environmental Democracy

Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) assesses public perception of government corruption at the national level. When combined with EDI results, this index sheds light on whether corruption might be undermining the practice of environmental democracy. For instance, Russia, Colombia and Panama ranked in the top 10 on EDI, but in the bottom half of the 175 countries CPI assessed (Russia ranked 136th, Colombia and Panama ranked 94th). These results suggest that corruption levels are perceived as high in these nations, which may undercut national environmental democracy laws. On the other hand, seven of the top 10 EDI countries (Lithuania, Latvia, United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Hungary and Bulgaria) ranked in the top half of the CPI; the United States and United Kingdom ranked in the top 20. Corrupt governments may be less likely to disseminate environmental information to the public or consider public feedback in environmental decision-making. With lower corruption levels, these countries may be more likely to achieve environmental democracy. Environmental democracy laws are also more likely to be implemented in countries where the law is respected and enforced equally. The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index (ROLI) uses survey research to determine how well the laws are respected and enforced (rule of law) in everyday life around the globe. Russia, Colombia and Panama—top-ranked countries on EDI—ranked in the bottom half of the 99 countries ROLI assessed, while the United States and United Kingdom ranked in the top 20. Comparing EDI and the ROLI rankings provides insight on whether countries are likely to follow laws that recognize environmental democracy rights. Environmental democracy rights are also rooted in basic human rights. For instance, the right to free speech must be realized before the public can meaningfully participate in environmental decision-making. Maplecroft’s Human Rights Risk Atlas 2014 (HRRI) rates countries based on their susceptibility to human rights abuses, such as torture, illegal arrests and freedom of speech. Whereas the United Kingdom is rated as having low human rights risks, Russia and Colombia are rated as “extreme risk,” meaning there is a high likelihood of human rights violations in these countries. Until human rights are better respected in Russia and Colombia, it is unlikely that citizens will fully attain the environmental democracy rights that national laws set out.

Improving Environmental Rights Around the World

Because protection of the environment and human rights share common ground, EDI holds an important place among global indices that address human rights concerns. Ultimately, what EDI and these global indices have in common is they establish a benchmark for progress: EDI shows the current state of national environmental democracy laws, the starting point for ensuring citizens’ rights to information, public participation and justice. Other global indices show us whether an enabling environment exists that will allow environmental democracy laws to be fully implemented. It’s important to examine both sides of the coin—the existence of laws as well as their enforcement—so that citizens can exercise their environmental democracy rights and hold governments and private actors accountable.

#GreenAlert

#GreenAlert encourages active citizenry, by providing the public with actionable information about development plans, along with tools for citizens to formally engage with the public review and policy formation processes and to connect with citizen or watchdog groups to lobby for citizen inclusion in decision-making processes.

#GreenAlert encourages greater transparency among governments and corporations by reducing secrecy in the decisions that are made about the use of natural resources.

#GreenAlert encourages greater public discourse and greater public participation in development issues, by creating demand-driven platforms for public comments and sharing of expert research or opinions on development by the general public, experts, civil society, media and community members.

Holistic and Integrated Approach to Access Rights (HIAAR)

The main objective is to create networks of NGOs/CSOs that will leverage on each other strength while synergizing on its purpose. Pilot projects initiated under this campaign will always focus on creating a strong value chain between all actors that will institutionalize solutions between NGOs, Communities, and Local Governments. This network will provide a stronger advocacy voice that will result in better policies and action plans by authorities and government.