The Aarhus Convention
The Aarhus Convention (AC) is the Treaty of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the purpose to improve the way citizens interact with government and decision-makers on environmental issues. It was adopted in 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus. As of September 2011, the AC has been signed by 44 countries.
The AC aims to build an environmental responsible society through introducing a reactive relationship between civil society and governments, fostering the role of public participation to the decision making process, and guaranteeing access to justice. It represents the rights, duties, rules and procedure to follow by every signatory country. The basic requirements of the Treaty are grouped in three pillars, named:
1. Access to Environmental Information (Articles 4 and 5 of the Treaty)
2. Public Participation (Articles 6 – 8 of the Treaty)
3. Access to Justice (Article 9 of the Treaty)
For more information please download the full Treaty on PDF format:
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters[p1]
[p1]Link to PDF document
