Attached, is a database of improvements in over 30 TAI Partner Countries. This database highlights changes in national laws towards access improvements from 2005 to 2010. The database highlights areas of change based on Access Pillars: Access to Information (A2I), Access to Justice (A2J), Public Participation(PP) and Capacity Building. Within the database, one can click on the link country tab to find the laws changes within each country.
Published: 2010
Attached, is a matrix of stories that have been written by TAI partners from October 2008 to July 2010 on access changes within their respective countries. The chart highlights the areas of change based on Access Pillars:Access to Information (A2I), Access to Justice (A2J), Public Participation (PP) and Capacity Building.
Within the chart, one can click on the link provided. This goes directly to a story or short blog post on this website explaining. The post provides first hand information from TAI partners working within that pillar of access.
Published: 2009
El Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental inició la construcción de una propuesta de objetivos y acciones estratégicas que permitan mejorar los procesos de gestión de la IA y su acceso.
Esta construcción se basó en el levantamiento de información sobre los principales problemas y debilidades en cuanto a la gestión de la IA, a través de un proceso que incluyó la investigación sobre los sistemas o redes de información existentes, la situación institucional y normativa para la gestión y acceso a la información ambiental y la realización de encuestas cuali-cuantitativas a generadores, gestores y usuarios de la IA para conocer su percepción sobre los principales problemas que se generan en toda la cadena de producción y socialización de información ambiental.
A partir de esta investigación, se identificaron problemas recurrentes en la gestión y socialización de la IA, así como fortalezas y oportunidades que manejan las distintas instituciones públicas y privadas. Esta información ha permitido plantear lineamientos estratégicos para mejorar la gestión y el acceso de la IA, que serán entregados a la autoridad ambiental a fin de apoyar las políticas y acciones para una mayor y mejor generación y socialización de la información en el Ecuador, promovidas por la Secretaría Nacional de Planificación y Desarrollo (SENPLADES) y, en el caso de la Información Ambiental, por el Ministerio del Ambiente.
Published: 2010
Creating and Improving Environmental Courts and Tribunals
We have an on going conversation on our discussion groups here: http://www.accessinitiative.org/law/node/1155
Specialized environmental courts and tribunals (ECTs) are making major contributions to access to justice, environmental governance, and protection of the environment around the world. Their growth is spectacular – hundreds have been developed in dozens of countries in recent years. This ground-breaking book provides step-by-step practical guidance on how to structure and operate an effective ECT – what works and what does not – based on two years of research and over 150 interviews with expert environmental judges, prosecutors, lawyers, litigants, government officials, academics, and advocacy groups in all regions and major legal systems of the world. This University of Denver ECT Study is authored by the multidisciplinary husband-wife team of George (Rock) Pring – a noted scholar and professor of environmental, international, and constitutional law, government consultant, and former environmental litigator – and Catherine (Kitty) Pring – a professional mediator, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) specialist, systems analyst and planner, and former government human services official (www.law.du.edu/index.php/ect-study).
The authors identify the 12 key characteristics of ECTs – the “building blocks” or design decisions which contribute to making ECTs work effectively. Designed for capacity building, this comparative study provides a range of options and alternatives within each building block suitable for developed, developing, or least-developed countries. Real world “best practices” and successes and failures are provided for each step, making this a book that will be invaluable to any country or constituency considering creating or improving an ECT.
This volume is published by The Access Initiative (TAI), the largest civil society network dedicated to ensuring that communities have a voice in decisions concerning their natural resources. For nearly a decade, World Resources Institute (WRI) has been privileged and proud to serve as the Global Secretariat of TAI. TAI partners have worked hard in over 45 countries to identify gaps in laws, institutions and practices in the implementation of Principle 10. In the last 4 years, TAI has ramped up its advocacy efforts and worked with Governments to reform laws and institutions to improve transparency, citizen voice and accountability in environmental decision-making. To support its work, TAI has undertaken or commissioned research that fills or supplements key knowledge gaps in good governance. This volume represents one such important effort. The challenge is to take this knowledge and apply it to courts and tribunals to provide cheaper, faster, and more effective justice in environmental matters.
Published: 2010
The present critique is a joint effort of members of ‘The Access Initiative – India’ (TAI-India) Coalition comprising of over 30 individuals and NGO’s from across the country. TAI-India is part of a global civil society coalition, comprising of over 150 civil society groups which works for effective enforcement of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration i.e., Access to Information, Pubic Participation and Access to Justice. The drafting of the present critique was a joint effort of lawyers, activists, academicians and administrators from both within and outside the country. This is based on their past experiences of dealing with environmental tribunals and public interest litigation in India and elsewhere. Following were the members of Core Team which collated and prepared the present critique to the proposed Green Tribunal Bill,2009 • Ritwick Dutta,(Advocate, New Delhi), Krishnendu Mukherjee (Advocate, Goa), Manoj Misra, (Peace Institute, New Delhi) • Professor William Lockhart, Professor of Law, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US. • Lalanath De Silva, Director, The Access Initiative, Washington DC and Public Interest Environmental Lawyer, Sri Lanka
Published: 2008
The Access Initiative (TAI) Thailand, an environmental governance coalition has conducted three national assessments on environmental governance in Thailand in order to find ways to improve its environmental accountability. Having proposed by friends in the non-governmental organizations that a citizen’s toolkit of environmental governance should be made available for the interested public to be used as guidelines in considering the governance performance of projects conducted in their local areas, TAI Thailand then produced this toolkit.
This toolkit is therefore designed for the public to use as guidelines in considering the levels of good governance for projects (or planning or policy making) only. It is not meant for the public or any organizations to use to assess good governance, because the number of indicators gathered in this toolkit is only half of the indicators of the full version. Moreover, in conducting a complete assessment, it would have to follow procedures and involve many analysts/researchers. This toolkit can also be used by the government agencies as guidelines to enhance good governance in conducting the work of your agency.
Published: 2009
Este trabajo pretende acercar algunas reflexiones teórico-prácticas sobre la importancia del acceso a la información y la participación en los proyectos de desarrollo, entendiendo que fortaleciendo esas áreas el resultado final será un mejor proyecto que potencie las posibilidades de lograr un efectivo Desarrollo Sustentable.
En la sección introductoria se vinculará al acceso a la información pública y a la participación con los Derechos Humanos. Se analizará el efecto multiplicador que estos derechos pueden tener sobre el resto de los derechos fundamentales. Asimismo, se analizará cuáles son los beneficios más directos que puede tener la participación sobre los proyectos de desarrollo. Se presentarán brevemente las interrelaciones entre las normativas nacionales y las propias de las instituciones financieras internacionales, teniendo siempre en vistas el fortalecimiento de los sistemas de participación y de acceso a la información. Finalmente se hará una breve referencia al acceso a la justicia en sentido amplio, como parte integrante de estos sistemas.
Posteriormente, se hablará directamente sobre participación poniendo énfasis en algunos mecanismos específicos que pueden ser útiles en los procedimientos vinculados a proyectos de desarrollo. En la siguiente sección se analizará la participación y el acceso a la información en la iniciativa IIRSA a nivel general para luego poner el foco en dos proyectos concretos: el Gasoducto del Noreste (GNEA) y la represa hidroeléctrica de Garabí.
Finalmente y a modo de cierre, se presentarán algunas reflexiones que no pretenden elevarse en conclusiones sino en disparadores de discusiones que permitan fortalecer los procesos de desarrollo mejorando el acceso a la información pública vinculada a ellos y generando efectivos espacios de participación.
Published: 2009
En el actual contexto normativo e institucional, la participación de la ciudadanía es uno de los ejes fundamentales de la gestión pública en todos sus ámbitos. La nueva Constitución de Montecristi consagra a la participación ciudadana como un derecho y un principio de organización e innovación institucional del Estado para garantizar los derechos de las personas. No podemos olvidar que el desarrollo requiere del aporte y la inclusión de todos los sectores sociales, no sólo como una forma de ser parte activa de su propio desarrollo, sino también como un espacio de corresponsabilidad para con lo público. Es así que la participación ciudadana cumple un rol articulador en los procesos de desarrollo, siempre y cuando ésta sea vista como una necesidad de articular visiones, propuestas, criterios, acciones y compromisos, y no como una mera formalidad para “avalar” procesos.
En la gestión ambiental, la participación ciudadana fundamenta los espacios de interacción de las comunidades, de las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y otros actores interesados, con el gobierno –nacional y local- en los procesos de toma de decisiones en relación al ambiente. Sin embargo, para que esta participación de la ciudadanía sea eficiente, efectiva y oportuna tiene que ser informada.
En este contexto, la edición del mes de agosto de nuestra serie de policy briefs “Temas de análisis”, analiza la importancia del acceso a la información como un insumo indispensable para la participación ciudadana en la gestión ambiental.
Published: 2008
This informational memo, by TAI partner, Dr. Csaba Kiss, outlines the benefits and theory behind legislative transparency. Additionally, it uses examples from existing practice in TAI countries. It is part of a larger series of informational memos on best practices and access rights.
The information memos are commissioned by the TAI Secretariat. They represent the ideas and thoughts of their respective authors and do not represent the official position of the Access Initiative or the TAI Secretariat. While the secretariat does its best to ensure the quality of these memos they are essentially the work of their respective authors who take full responsibility for their content. Please contact the TAI Secretariat if you have ideas for topics which are not covered in the current research.
By Ritwick Dutta (Posted: June 7, 2009)
Two significant ruling by the Delhi High Court in the month of April and May, 2009 delivered by Justice Ravindra Bhat has greatly helped the cause of access to Justice in India. These two judgments along with the Judgment on the functioning of the NEAA delivered by Justice A. P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar has laid down a framework for access rights for far as challenging environmental clearances are concerned.
Background:
The National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA), a Statutory Authority to hear appeals filed against approval granted by the Government to various industrial and infrastructure projects based on Environment Impact Assessment, dismissed two appeals filed before it. The first concerned approval of the Vedanta Aluminium Smelter Plant in Jhasrsuguda, Orissa and the second, a mine approved in Goa. The first Appeal was dismissed on the ground that the petitioner, Prafull Samantray did not have the loucus standi to file the Appeal since he was not an “aggrieved person”. The second was dismissed on grounds of delay since the petitioner did not, according to the NEAA have “sufficient cause” in filing the appeal late. The Delhi high Court quashed both the orders of the National Environmental Appellate Authority. In respect of Vedanta it imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 to be paid to the petitioner. The Courts clarified on the issue as to who can file an Appeal before the NEAA and held as follows:
•“Public hearings……. are organized to elicit comments from the members of public before granting clearance to a project in order to assess the nature of environmental damage, if any, due to the likely execution of project and its impact on the rights of inhabitants and the persons who depend on that area for livelihood or otherwise. A person who participates in the public hearing, and thus in the process of decision-making, potentially becomes an aggrieved person if his grievances are not properly addressed.
•The world as we know is gravely imperiled by mankind’s collective folly. Unconcern to the environment has reached such damaging levels which threatens the very existence of life on this planet. If standing before a special tribunal, created to assess impact of projects and activities that impact, or pose potential threats to the environment, or local communities, is construed narrowly, organizations working for the betterment of the environment whether in form of NGOs or otherwise, would be effectively kept out of the discourse, that is so crucial an input in such proceedings. Such association of persons, as long as they work in the field of environment, possess a right to oppose and challenge all actions, whether of the State or private parties, that impair or potentially impair the environment.
•In cases where complaints, appeals etc. are filed bona fide by public spirited interested persons, environmental activists or other such voluntary organisations working for the betterment of the community as a whole, they are to be construed as “aggrieved persons” within the meaning of that expression under Section 11 (2) (c) of the Act (National Environment Appellate Authority Act)
•As a native American proverb goes, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”; denial of access to meaningful channels to communities who can be affected by proposed projects would only leave them remediless, on the one hand, and allow unchallenged indiscriminate drawings from the future generations’ rights with impunity, thus gravely undermining the purpose of the Act.
•The kind of disputes that the Tribunal is expected to adjudicate upon is not really a lis between the litigating parties – it is necessarily a wider one whereby the impact of the State decisions to permit/promotion a kind of project, on the local community or the environment in general has to be considered. Viewed from this perspective, and the statement of objects of the enactment, this Court is of the opinion that the Tribunal has to in each case (where appeals are preferred before it), adopt a broad and liberal, rather than narrow and cribbed approach. The latter view, however, has appealed to the Tribunal. After all when the local community or a person entitled to move an appeal approaches a Tribunal as has happened in this case, the grievance is not the impact on the immediate parties alone, but on the wider community at large. The Tribunal has to keep that in mind.
•In a case like the present where environmental clearances’ impact on local population in terms of their environmental harm, has to be assessed the approach of the tribunal especially set up for this purpose should be liberal and not “hyper technical”
The two decisions of the Delhi High Court are truely landmark. These two, along with the earlier Judgment of Justice A.P Shah and Justice Muralidhar on the functioning of the NEAA could form the guiding force for affected communities and groups who wish to challenge destructive projects approved on the basis of faulty EIA.