The Access Initiative

Topics: Capacity Building

La Inciativa de Acceso en Centro America

San José, Costa Rica. 2009

Last April 29th and 30th, representatives from TAI Coalitions from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica gathered in regional workshop to create a common Action Plan to strengthen their work on the implementation of Principle 10.

The Action Plan has three sections:

A) Challenges and commitments of the leader organizations in each coalition: This point is related with the strengthening of the following aspects: 1) National coalitions to promote the Access Rights. 2) Information channels within the coalitions and between the coalitions. 3) Fundraising for national coalitions projects. 4) the inclusion of the Dominican Republic and Panama in the regional process. 5) Establishing a regional partnership that consolidates common work strategies and get funding for regional projects. 6) Political context challenges in each country. B) Regional Agenda: This point refers to issues related with: 1) access to information and communications between governments and civil society, 2) Legal framework on access rights. 3) Proceedings and institutional structures of public participation. 4) Education and training on access rights. 5) Funding for public participation and access to information. C) Building a regional partnership: It contains the actions defined to create a regional partnership of TAI Coalitions in Central America.

As part of the program, the meeting had two spaces to tend other topics: Daniel Barragán, from TAI Ecuador, presented the hemispheric strategic plan of Latin America Access Coalitions. Aldo Palacios and Diego Cooper from PP10 Secretariat presented the components and the work of the Partnership for Principle 10.

This workshop is an activity of the project “Partnership 10 Central America” which is funded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and executed by Foundation for Peace and Democracy(FUNPADEM).

Further information please contact Luis Diego Segura from Foundation for Peace and Democracy, FUNPADEM. Email sociedadcivil@funpadem.org or +506 2283 9435.

The Access Initiative is Launched in Benin March 17-20

By Linda Shaffer (Posted: March 26, 2009) 

More than 35 participants gathered in Cotonou last week for the official launch of TAI –Benin. The three-day workshop opened with remarks from Claudia Amegankpoue, Eco-Ecolo; Théophile Worou, Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Nature; Sophie Kutegeka, Advocates Coalition for Environment and Development and Linda Shaffer, World Resources Institute.

The workshop was led by Augustine Njamnshi, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme-Cameroon and Coordinator for TAI activities in West Africa and Sophie Kutegeka. The workshop consisted of an overview of The Access Initiative and in-depth presentation of the methodology. Participants discussed ideas for case studies to evaluate access to information, public participation, justice and capacity in Benin. A separate session was devoted to access rights among impoverished communities.

Participants represented an impressive number of civil society organizations including Social Watch, Nature Tropicale, Victory Way, CEBEDES (Benin Centre for the Environment and the Economic and Social Development), and many others. Also present were members of the Benin government and representatives from national universities.

The workshop received a lot of media attention including full articles in two newspapers, La Nation and Notre Temps, a radio interview with Claudia Amegankpoue and Augustine Njamnshi, and a segment on the evening television news. The TAI coalition hopes this attention will help raise the profile of The Access Initiative in Benin and generate greater awareness of access rights in general.

La Iniciativa de Acceso en el proceso de la V Cumbre de las Américas / The Access Initiative in the V Summit of the Americas…

By Daniel Barragan (Posted: March 9, 2009) 

Del 17 al 19 de abril de 2009 se realizará la V Cumbre de las Américas en Puerto España, Trinidad y Tobago, enfocada a “Asegurar el futuro de nuestros ciudadanos promoviendo la prosperidad humana, la seguridad energética y la sostenibilidad ambiental”.

Como parte del proceso de Cumbres, la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) ha venido promoviendo la participación de la sociedad civil de las Américas a través de una serie de foros subregionales en Puerto España (octubre 2008), San Salvador (diciembre 2008) y Lima (febrero 2009); y un foro hemisférico en Washington D.C.(marzo 2009).

Estos espacios de participación para la sociedad civil fueron muy importantes para poder analizar y debatir la propuesta de resolución que adoptarán los gobiernos del continente en abril próximo, y definir propuestas concretas para enriquecer esta declaración.Justamente en estos espacios ha sido relevante el rol de las organizaciones miembros de la Iniciativa de Acceso, que han logrado incidir en este proceso en dos vías:

(i) Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (CEDA), AC Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia y Corporación Participa, incidieron para incorporar en las recomendaciones del Foro Subregional de América del Sur (Lima), a los derechos de acceso, ya no como un reconocimiento expreso por parte de los gobiernos, sino como una garantía por parte de los Estados para su implementación. La propuesta insertada en el párrafo 44 del documento de recomendaciones dice:

“También trabajaremos en aras de promover una gobernabilidad ambiental sana, mediante el refuerzo de las leyes ambientales nacionales y creando capacidad institucional para la gestión democrática de los recursos naturales, garantizando el acceso de los ciudadanos a la información ambiental, a la participación en los procesos de toma de decisiones y a mecanismos de justicia ambiental. De igual forma, los gobiernos nos comprometemos a desarrollar un sistema de indicadores ambientales orientados a monitorear la información y justicia ambiental, en coordinación con la sociedad civil.”

De igual forma esta propuesta fue apoyada y promovida por los socios TAI presentes en el Foro Hemisférico (Washington D.C.) realizado el pasado 3 y 4 de marzo: World Resources Institute (Estados Unidos), Corporación Participa(Chile), Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (Ecuador), AC Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia (Venezuela) y FUNPADEM (Costa Rica); logrando que conste en el documento de recomendaciones de este Foro.

(ii) Adicionalmente, la Iniciativa de Acceso estuvo presente en dos espacios en el Foro Hemisférico de la Sociedad Civil (Washington D.C.). El primer espacio estuvo dentro del panel de Seguridad energética y sostenibilidad ambiental, en el que Linda Shaffer difundió la Iniciativa de Acceso y habló sobre los fundamentos de la gobernabilidad ambiental que son el corazón de nuestro proceso.

El segundo espacio tuvo lugar en la Sesión Especial de la Comisión de Gestión de Cumbres Interamericanas y Participación de la Sociedad Civil en las actividades de la OEA, en donde el Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental presentó a la Iniciativa de Acceso y el trabajo que desarrollamos como un mecanismo de apoyo al seguimiento de los mandatos de cumbres en los temas ambientales.

Fue muy importante la presencia de la Iniciativa de Acceso en estos espacios, a través de sus miembros presentes, no solo para reforzar nuestra presencia institucional y liderazgo en los procesos de gobernabilidad ambiental, sino para poder incidir en foros políticos y procesos de desarrollo de políticas públicas.

The Access Initiative in the V Summit of the Americas process

From April 17 to 19, 2009 will be held the V Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability”.

As part of the Summit, the Organization of American States (OAS) has been promoting the participation of civil society in the Americas through a series of subregional forums in Port of Spain (October 2008), San Salvador (December 2008) and Lima (February 2009) and a hemispheric forum in Washington DC (2009 March).

These spaces for civil society were very important to analyze and discuss the proposed resolution to adopt the governments of the continent in April, and define concrete proposals to enhance this statement. Precisely in these areas has been relevant the role of TAI members, who influenced this process in two ways:

(i) Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (CEDA), AC Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia and Corporación Participa influenced to incorporate in the recommendations of the Sub-Regional Forum of South America (Lima), the access rights, not as an explicit recognition by governments, but as a guarantee by the States for their implementation. The proposal inserted on paragraph 44 of the document reads:

“We will also work towards promoting sound environmental governance by strengthening national environmental laws and building institutional capacity for the democratic management of natural resources, guaranteeing citizens access to environmental information, to participation in decision-making processes, and to mechanisms for environmental justice. In addition, the governments commit to developing a system of environmental indicators geared toward monitoring environmental information and justice, in coordination with civil society.”

The proposal was also supported and promoted by TAI partners in the Hemispheric Forum (Washington DC) held on March 3 and 4: World Resources Institute (Estados Unidos), Corporación Participa (Chile), Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental (Ecuador), AC Consorcio Desarrollo y Justicia (Venezuela) y FUNPADEM (Costa Rica); achieving the inclusion in the document of recommendations of this Forum.

(ii) Additionally, the Access Initiative was present at two spaces in the Civil Society Hemispheric Forum (Washington DC). The first space was on the panel on Energy security and environmental sustainability, in which Linda Shaffer introduced the Access Initiative and spoke about the foundations of environmental governance that are the heart of our process.

The second space was in the Special Session of the Committee on Inter-American Summits Management and Civil Society Participation in OAS Activities, in which the Ecuadorian Center of Environmental Law (Centro Ecuatoriano de Derecho Ambiental) presented the Access Initiative process and the work we develop as a support mechanism to follow the summits mandates on environmental issues.

It was very important the presence of the Access Initiative in these spaces, through its members present, not only to strengthen our institutional presence and leadership in environmental governance processes, but in order to influence policy forums and of public policy development processes.

Más información / more information:
http://www.civil-society.oas.org/Default.htm
http://fifthsummitoftheamericas.org/home/

Highlights from the TAI Global Gathering

By Monika Kerdeman (Posted: March 6, 2009) 

50 people representing 29 countries participated in the second TAI Global Gathering, held in Sligo, Ireland at the Sligo Institute of Technology. The gathering was the largest international conference held at Sligo Institute of Technology. Highlights from the meeting include:

  1. Jeremy Wates, from the Aarhus Convention Secretariat in Geneva, opened the conference by discussing the importance of access work in the role of shaping environmental policy.

  2. The deputy leader of Seanad Eireann (the Senate of Ireland), and Green Party chairperson, Senator Dan Boyle, addressed the gathering. He spoke on Ireland’s need to ratify the Aarhus convention and the importance of access to information in a mature democracy.

  3. TAI partners shared ideas, stories, successes and solutions for moving the network to more action on the ground.

  4. Latin American partners agreed on next steps for a collaborative regional advocacy plan.

  5. The TAI Secretariat shared major themes and messages from its publication, Voice and Choice: Opening the Door to Environmental Democracy.

  6. Partners discussed case studies on access rights for the poor carried out by five TAI partners and next steps for including poverty-access rights analysis in all future TAI assessments.

  7. The Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) introduced partners to a draft citizen’s toolkit.

  8. New sectors were explored in the context of TAI, including climate change, forestry and aid effectiveness.

Click here to read the full report from the gathering.

TAI in Africa

By Monika Kurdeman (Posted: February 24, 2009) 

The Access Initiative (TAI) expands into African, raising awareness on Principle 10 and environmental governance through the local media. These clips from local television and radio shows highlight the work of TAI partner’s and their intentions for expanding the network further into African.

This video clip from Le Journal du Matin Morning News highlights the important role local civil society organizations play in implementing Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration. Two TAI partners Sophie Kutugeka, Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) in Uganda and Augustine B Njamnshi, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme Cameroon (BDCPC) Cameroon are shown at a workshop between civil society and government officials. In attendance is British High Commissioner representative Enow Etta. click here

This is a video taken during a meeting between the Cameroonian government and the TAI-Cameroon coalition. At the meeting the TAI-Cameroon coalition shared their findings and recommendations for how the government and civil society can work together to bring about environmental governance changes in Cameroon. The recommendations are based on the coalition’s 18 months of research on environmental laws pertaining to access to information, access to justice, public participation and capacity building . click here

Radio Spot from TAI-Cameroon : Radio coverage of TAI Cameroon

Guide on Access to Information and Participation in Environmental Issues in Colombia.

Posted by Lina Marcela Muñoz Posted: February 23, 2009

The Access Initiative Colombia in this guide presents a collection of tools for the right to information and participation in matters related to environment and natural resources. It is a contribution to progress in developing a participatory culture.

This guide aims to confront the challenges in the implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration (1992). The Guide provides the reader with a tool for approaching the issue of access to environmental information and participation from a legal point of view. It seeks to explain the importance of these issues in the context of national and international environmental issues.

The first part presents, in general terms, the most important aspects of access to environmental information, its legal nature, the principles that guide the national and international legal framework on the subject, the mechanisms for its effective implementation, the overview of the national Information system and agencies in the field. The following parts present different tools to access environmental information and to find out what information is available on the subject.

The second part of the document refers to participation in environmental decision-making, establishing not only the conceptual and regulatory framework, but the different forms and mechanisms for participation that exist in Colombia. The guide includes the formats to be used for general use and to exercise participatory rights under these mechanisms.

Convinced of the importance of information and social participation, the Access Initiative Colombia has atempted to contribute to achieve participatory democracy and a culture with regard to the environment, and has offered the reader a text which has been the result the joint work of academics and NGOs. Hopefully, this small effort effort will strengthen environmental management in Colombia.

Manual de Acceso a la Información Ambiental

Published:  2006

Todas las actividades que realizamos generan impactos en mayor o menor grado en el medio ambiente que nos rodea. Debemos comprender que únicamente aprovechando sustentablemente nuestro medio ambiente, podremos construir un futuro con igualdad de condiciones para las generaciones venideras.

Una forma de construir este futuro es participando en la toma de decisiones que nos afecten a todos los ciudadanos y especialmente en aquellas que tengan que ver con la conservación de nuestro medio natural. Para esto es necesario que contemos con información adecuada, oportuna y suficiente, que nos permita conocer el estado real de los elementos del medio ambiente. El acceso a esta información es un derecho consagrado en nuestra Constitución Política y en la recientemente aprobada Ley de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública.

Este manual explica los tipos de información a los que podemos acceder en Ecuador, analiza la importancia de estar informados y los procedimientos para solicitarla. También se presentan leyes y acuerdos internacionales firmados por nuestro país, que reconocen y regulan el derecho al acceso a la información en Ecuador, y las principales instituciones responsables de su aplicación. Finalmente se detallan algunas direcciones de instituciones y organizaciones que generan y difunden información ambiental.

A través del presente Manual, estamos invitados a ser parte del Ecuador y participar como ciudadanos en la toma de decisiones que generen impacto en el medio ambiente.

Manual de Acceso a la Justicia

Published: 2006

El presente documento es un manual de apoyo a la capacitación sobre los derechos ambientales de los ecuatorianos y las formas de acceso a la justicia y otras instancias para lograr su efectiva vigencia.

El manual aborda el tema del acceso a la justicia a través de una caracterización sencilla de los derechos ambientales que establece nuestra Constitución Política, así como otras normas ambientales. Trata, además, sobre aquellos mecanismos para impulsar el respeto y cumplimiento de derechos establecidos en las Leyes.

La capacitación tiene como objetivo lograr que las personas que no son Abogados/as y que ejercen cargos públicos o cargos en organizaciones ambientales manejen los principales conceptos jurídicos y herramientas legales en sus acciones diarias.

Pretendemos que a través de esta publicación las personas capacitadas puedan conocer los derechos y aplicarlos, El conocimiento, la exigibilidad y la responsabilidad contribuyen a lograr un país transparente, democrático y justo que todos anhelamos.

TAI Thailand Promoting Access Rights in Constitution and Other Acts

Posted July 24, 2008

Pro Public, the leader of the TAI Nepal Coalition, is looking for ways to influence the Constituent Assembly, the government body mandated to write the new constitution for the Republic of Nepal, in order to enshrine access into the highest law of the country. The Thailand Environment Institute (TEI), which carried out a similar, successful campaign in Thailand has this advice for Nepal (below the fold):

The Thailand Environment Institute has been working on TAI in Thailand since 2001. We included relevant partners in our TAI Thailand coalition. We already conducted 3 national assessments. For each assessment, we had 25-30 distinguished persons in our advisory committee. They are from agencies (Director General level) relevant to our case studies and also from Constitution-related agencies. We held a public conference (with 200+ participants from various stakeholders) after each national assessment. This was our ground work.

When a new constitution was being drafted in 2007, we held a small workshop of key relevant participants, discussing and making recommendations related to access rights in 3 laws: the new Constitution, Public Participation Act (not yet in existence) and the amendment of the Official Information Act 1997.

Once the draft Constitution was completed, the government allowed a period for people’s comments. We then held a public dialogue of 400+ participants to discuss and make recommendations on the issue of environmental governance in the new Constitution. At this dialogue, we made specific comments to specific articles in the draft Constitution. We submitted them to the Constitutional Drafting Committee and a few other agencies/bodies.

Some of our partners are also in the drafting committee or working committees. We also worked through our partners’ networks. Our coalition’s recommendations were circulated to grassroots NGOs in the provinces as well so that recommendations from various forums will resonate with each other.

We have been successful in influencing the Constitution. Yet, we have not been successful in pushing a Public Participation Act as yet. One of our TAI partners, King Prajadhipok’s Institute, is now leading an effort to propose 3 new Acts related to public participation. Other partners are also working on other Acts which are related to access rights. TEI is also involved in these efforts.

Last week, on 9 July 2008, we (TEI, TAI Thailand coalition and 34 other organizations – some of them are governmental although most are NGOs – few from private sector) held a workshop of 270 participants (including impacted persons from outside Bangkok, Thailand) to identify types of environment- and health-related information that should be classified as ‘public information,’ which the authorities should make readily available to the public without people having to request it. This is to implement Article 9(8) of the Official Information Act 1997. We hope to submit recommendations to the Office of Official Information Commission (who also was one of our co-organizers of the above workshop). This is to enable them to submit it to their Board (the approval authority). We also invited two members of this Board, who are sympathetic to our course, to speak at the workshop.

In short, our strategy is to involve the decision makers or those who have access to the decision-making processes in our activities. Our effort is to create an opportunity to involve them. At the same time, we also keep the civil society informed and involved. It is important to maintain and expand our networks. The networks can be either formal or informal. They can also be loose. Each partner or organization in the networks can also promote access rights on their own through their own channels, which help strengthen our collective efforts.

In Thailand we have active people’s movement for the past decades, especially in the areas of environment (2 decades), health and human’s rights (especially after the Constitution 1997). There also are several ongoing environment- and development-related disputes. People are therefore aware of the issue.

It is also strategic to identify sympathetic officials in governmental agencies or the agencies whose mandates support access rights.

Greenwatch Uganda Champions Information Rights

By Lalanath de Silva (Posted: March 4, 2008)

Laws alone are not enough to ensure environmental protection. Civil society organizations often play a critical role in bringing those laws to life. In Uganda, Greenwatch has done exactly that for the country’s laws on access to environmental information, the first of which passed in 1998.

Under Ugandan environmental law, the public has several opportunities to make its voice heard about new development projects. Projects that might affect the environment of Uganda have to be approved by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). Before such projects are approved the developer must perform an Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA), which studies the environmental impacts and examines environmentally friendly alternatives. The law requires that the press announce that the assessment has been performed and that the written results are made available to the public for comment. If comment shows that a project is controversial, NEMA must hold a public hearing.

The public can also challenge NEMA decisions in the Ugandan courts, and that’s where the civil society organization Greenwatch, Uganda (Greenwatch) has distinguished itself. As early as 1999, the organization began suing the government to honor the regulations requiring the assessments.

Although the court refused to stop the signing of the agreement, Greenwatch and other advocates of greater public participation consider the case a partial victory: for the first time, a Ugandan court recognized that concerned advocates could bring a case to vindicate environmental laws. Justice Richard Okumu Wengi of the High Court of Uganda also declared that an assessment and NEMA approval were required before the project could go forward.Greenwatch’s first court challenge of a NEMA decision was to a hydro-electric project funded by the International Finance Corporation and other banks. A utility company – AES Nile Power – was attempting to sign a power purchasing agreement with the Government of Uganda, but the company had not performed an assessment nor had it obtained NEMA approval.

(Citation: NAPE VS AES Nile Power Ltd High Court Misc. cause No. 26 of 1999)

AES Nile Power then proceeded to perform an EIA, and NEMA approved the project. Yet when Greenwatch requested information on the project and the power purchase agreement, the Ugandan Government refused. Review of the power purchase agreement would tell the public if the electricity produced would be affordable and would ease the burden on the environment. Greenwatch sued the Attorney General of Uganda to obtain the document. The court decided that the power purchase agreement and all connected documents were both public documents and therefore ought to be made available to the public.
(Citation: Greenwatch Vs AG & UETCL)

A recent UN report concludes that while Uganda has made remarkable progress in the application of EIA procedures, there is a need to improve key aspects of its application. The report states that there is a “need to further develop approaches to ensure effective public participation in EIA, as well as need to create and strengthen regional and sub-regional EIA networks to complement national efforts for promotion of EIA.”

Greenwatch has also successfully used the space provided for public participation at EIA public hearings to stop the spraying of herbicides on Lake Victoria – the second largest lake in the world and the largest in Africa. Greenwatch produced convincing evidence to show the dangers of pesticide spraying. Greenwatch also showed that the entire operation might not be financially viable because the Ugandan company’s parent company in the U.S.A was bankrupt.

Greenwatch continues to advocate in the public interest today. Most recently, it obtained an interim order against Warid Telecom (U) Ltd., stopping the construction of a telecommunication tower in a residential area. The company had failed to perform an EIA and the residents had fears of a cancerous gas affecting them and the construction noise creating a nuisance. Warid Telecom has challenged these allegations saying that there is no scientific basis for any of them. The application for a temporary injunction will be heard soon.

Greenwatch has been closely associated with The Access Initiative coalition in Uganda and has blazed a trail championing citizen rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice (“access rights”) in environmental matters. It also works closely with the Government of Uganda to train public officers and judges in environmental law.

“Every person has a right to information under the Ugandan Constitution,” says Kenneth Kakuru, the Director of Greenwatch, Uganda. “An Environmental Impact Assessment is a public document.”

Resources and Legal Citations:

Full Judgments and more information can be obtained from the Greenwatch website, www.greenwatch.or.ug.