Aarhus Working Group of Parties, April 2006

Report on the Working Group of the Parties, Geneva, 5th-7th April, 2006.

From Michael Ewing, representing Friends of the Irish Environment.

  1. Protocol on PRTRs (Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers).
    A proposal was put by the secretariat that procedures for the protocol and for its compliance mechanism should mirror those of the Convention, in particular that any member of the public should be able to trigger the mechanism. This is to be considered further by the working group on the PRTR Protocol.
    The protocol has been approved by the EC. In order for the protocol to become a part of the Convention it requires 16 of the Parties to ratify. So far only Luxembourg has done so. The estimated time for ratification is late 2007. This does not prevent any Party from putting it into place the activities laid down in the protocol. Ireland is a signatory since 21st May 2003, but has yet to ratify.
    http://www.unece.org/env/pp/prtr.htm
  2. Public Participation in Strategic Decision-making.
    This discussion related to Articles 7&8 in relation to plans, programmes and policies. Synergies with the SEA Protocol and the ESPOO Convention are to be looked at.A workshop is to be organised for 2007 to:

    • Study the status of implementation of articles 7&8, and relevant national legislations; challenges and problem areas as well as identifying specific types of decisions that should be subject to public participation.Analyse which the stages in these processes that should involve PP.
    • Discuss existing practice with regard to these processes as well as the preparation of laws with environmental impact potential.
    • Look at the existing and potential players in these processes.
  3. Financial Report
    Ireland’s representative at the WGP , Fiona Quinn, stated that Ireland was constitutionally debarred from making a contribution. The amount Ireland is expected to contribute is €6,561/annum.
  4. The report of the task force meeting on access to justice.
    As you will be aware from my report on this meeting, the only decision made at it was to train judges re the convention in a sub-regional meeting in Central Asia/Eastern Europe. The parties were unanimous in praising the report. However I made an intervention saying how depressed and disappointed I was leaving the taskforce meeting when the issues of legal remedies and barriers to justice were not even discussed. Another delegate said that the agenda was too crowded. To this I replied that it was not the agenda but the actions of certain parties that had lead to this position, and that well trained judges was a good idea, but of no use if you couldn’t get through the door of the courthouse because of the lack of appropriate legal remedies or due to the presence of financial or other barriers to access. Following private conversations with the chair of the taskforce and the convention secretary it is possible that an informal process of information gathering will take place, before the next taskforce meeting.
    The Swedish Government is looking into the possibility of funding a workshop on access to justice. I will be following this up.
  5. Electronic Information Tools.
    A guidance document on national nodes for the Clearing House Mechanism was approved. Ireland’s node is ENFO, but there is no individual person within the DOEHLG who acts as the focus point. There are some 830 entries in the Clearinghouse, 10 of which come from Ireland. Visit: http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org
  6. Public Participation in International Fora.
    This item involved a lot of debate. Essentially it is intended to contact about 50 other Conventions and international bodies with environmental remits with a view to seeing in what way they enable public participation in their processes. The task force on this subject had prepared an excellent work plan which includes a consultation package to be sent to the listed fora and which culminates in a workshop with a number of key international fora and their stakeholders.
    The purpose of all this activity is to persuade these bodies ultimately to become signatories to the Convention and so make them more transparent, inclusive and accountable.
    Would all those who take part in international meetings please contact me regarding this, so that they can be involved in a carefully timed action on this.
  7. An expert group was set up to look into the conditions for entry into force of the amendment to the Convention relating to GMOs. (click for pdf)
  8. Capacity building measures.
    Under this heading the Planning Matters Information network was introduced (www.planningmatters.ie), as well as the Dialogue for a Sustainable Ireland (DSI) project (for further info email d...@o2.ie).
    The Access Initiative (TAI) research in Europe was described, and the upcoming assessment of Principle 10 implementation in Ireland was noted.
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