scholarly journals ENVIRONMENTAL DEMOCRACY THROUGH ACCESS TO INFORMATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 364-371
Author(s):  
Nabil Madani ◽  
◽  
Hassan Moumni ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
The Right ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Environmental Democracy

The overall aim of environmental laws is to protect the environment from any adversary effects in order to lay down the foundations for sustainable development and secure a better life on earth for the present and future generations. Environmental protection is more urgent today than ever especially due to global environmental problems. Such a noble aim can only be achieved through environmental democracy rather than exclusive and top-down decision-making. Morocco, for example, witnesses intermittent social protests triggered by the lack of access to environmental information and the gap between laws and their implementation.The main aim of this study is thus to argue that access to information is at the heart of democracy and that the achievement of the intertwined objectives of environment protection, sustainable development, and environmental democracy is dependent on the effective implementation of the right of access to information and the adoption a participatory approach in environmental decision-making. For this, we first define the concept of environmental information, and the access to this human right in international and Moroccos legislations then, we highlight the crucial role of the mass media in raising the public awareness of the threatening environmental issues and their rights and obligations towards the environment and finally, we shed light on the link between the right to access environmental information and the establishment of environmental democracy.

scholarly journals Judicial Enforcement of Environmental Democracy: a Critical Analysis of Case Law on Access to Environmental Information in the European Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-43
Author(s):  
Marjan Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
Environmental Democracy ◽  
Gain Access ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Since the 1970s, the concept of environmental democracy, including the right to gain access to environmental information, has emerged as an important concept to promote and ensure public engagement in governmental environmental decision-making. While it is, generally, understood that environmental procedural rights deserve protection across the globe, it remains to be identified to what extent, in practice, the application of such rights differs across jurisdictions. Such differences may be caused by specific understandings of democracy and institutional characteristics. In light of this, this article analyses the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the right of access to environmental information. It observes that the EU legislature has implemented the right of access to environmental information more ambitiously than required under the Aarhus Convention, particularly with regard to legislative information. Moreover, the CJEU has steered EU institutions, including the European Commission, towards even greater transparency. The judicial reasoning by the CJEU is principled and refers to general values regarding openness and transparency codified in primary EU law and in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. These judicial developments also highlight the importance of promoting discourse on the implications of a rigorous approach to the right of access to environmental information, including the question of whether enabling wider public engagement necessarily leads to better decision-making. Finally, the article promotes the need for comparative research on how the right to gain access to environmental information is developing across the world.

A Fresh Perspective on the Human Right to Political Participation and Environmental Decision-Making in Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 565-584
Author(s):  
Uzuazo Etemire
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
The Right ◽  
Environmental Decision

Accounts of significant environmental pollution and degradation in Nigeria, especially by major actors in the country's extractive industry, are common. The human rights crisis engendered by this phenomenon as it relates to members of the communities whose immediate environment is being degraded is also real and severe. To a large extent, this environmental crisis has been aided and sustained by the inadequacy of extant environmental legal regimes – majorly the Environmental Impact Assessment Act – to properly guarantee the right of the public to participate in environmental decision-making. Hence this article argues, analyses and proposes the human right to political participation as an alternative and viable platform that can support public participatory rights in environmental decision-making in Nigeria, and help to stem the tide of environmental degradation and its negative consequences for human well-being.

A Procedural Idea of Environmental Democracy: the 'Débat Public' Paradigm within the EU Framework

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
Alberto Nicòtina
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
National Level ◽  
Research Subject ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Débat Public ◽  
Environmental Democracy ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Environmental Decision

The aim of this paper is to analyse the 'débat public' procedure, which finds its roots in the Canadian legal system and its most defined formulation in France, and which more recently has been circulating to Italy – first at the regional level and, since 2016, at the national level. The first part of the paper will thus be devoted to a historical overview of the débat public and to how it is implemented in each of the two legal systems. The second part will subsequently distil the 'paradigm', i. e. those distinctive traits that make the débat public an autonomous research subject, within the multi-layered legislative framework of environmental governance in Europe. Three main features of the paradigm will be pointed out (Participation, Effectiveness, Authority), thus highlighting how it can respond to the needs in light of which it has been designed, namely dealing with proximity conflicts and providing a forum for the construction of shared rational decisions in environmental decision-making. The paper eventually leads to the conclusion that the débat public, with its codified rules and procedures, represents the first and probably the most noticeable attempt towards the institutionalisation and generalisation of deliberative practices in environmental decision-making, thus towards developing a procedural stance in environmental democracy.

Deferring Citizens' “Right to Know” in an Information Age

2019 ◽  
pp. 264-286
Author(s):  
William Edward Heuva
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Right To Know ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Emerging Democracies ◽  
The Right To Know ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right

Namibia is one of the emerging democracies that have not yet enacted the Access to Information legislation. While the country has guaranteed freedom of expression and media in its constitution, it has not provided for Access to Information as a constitutional right. This chapter seeks to examine Namibia's reluctance to adopt an Access to Information legislation. It interrogates views that locate the omission of this fundamental human right in the country's constitutional (legal) and policy frameworks. It underscores the failure by Namibia to reverse the information black-out suffered under the Apartheid dispensation. The chapter starts with a theoretical/philosophical rationale for the right to know to elicit an understanding of this discourse and its relevance to emerging democracies, such as Namibia. It then examines attempts by state and civil society to introduce the legislation in the country. Predicted on praxis, the chapter in conclusion provides some suggestions that may help resolving the impasse in adopting the Access to Information legislation in the county.

scholarly journals Dissemination of Environmental Information and its Effects on Stakeholders’ Decision-Making: A Comparative Study between Swedish and Polish Municipalities

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-47
Author(s):  
Anna Cregård ◽  
Iwona Sobis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Development Economic ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
Positive Effects

Abstract According to Action Agenda 21, which was adopted at the Rio Conference in 1992, sustainable development is a major objective for local and global development. Economic growth, good living conditions, and protection of the earth’s natural environment are important to all people in the world. This article focuses on one aspect of sustainable development, i.e. on environmental sustainability. Research shows that local government can take a leading position in protecting the natural environment and disseminating information on it among stakeholders. However, our knowledge about the dissemination of environmental information practices among stakeholders is limited. The purpose of this research is to fill a gap in current knowledge, to describe and compare the practical work with dissemination of such information among stakeholders in Swedish and Polish municipalities. The questions to be answered are: What environmental information is collected and produced by the local government ? At what stakeholders is such information targeted ? and What effects does it have on decision-making by stakeholders in the investigated municipalities ? The study is based on state regulations, the homepages of municipal offices, and policy documents, official reports, and semi-structured interviews with key managers responsible for the protection of the natural environment in the studied municipalities. Data were collected from late 2015 to early 2017. This research indicates that dissemination of environmental information has a positive effect on the decision-making of internal stakeholders. In both countries, the municipal authorities follow the EU recommendations, resulting in innovative work and growing environmental awareness among the municipal authorities, the residents, and other stakeholders. Improvement of the natural environment is perceived as “a must” for the future. Nonetheless, especially larger municipalities face challenges because the production and dissemination of environmental information is time-consuming. In the long run, however, surprisingly positive effects on the local protection of the natural environment appear.

scholarly journals INTRODUCTION OF THE INSTITUTION OF PREVIOUSLY EXPRESSED WISHES REGARDING MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS IN MEDICAL LAW OF UKRAINE: STATE AND PROSPECTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 58-65
Author(s):  
G.V. Puchkova ◽  
L.P. Bohutska
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Medical Care ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Medical Intervention ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The Right

The aim. The aim of the article is to study the implementation of the principle of autonomy in the medical law of Ukraine, to determine the compliance of the medical legislation of Ukraine with the specified principle in terms of the exercising of the human right to express wishes for the provision of medical care in the future in case if a patient cannot personally express such wishes. Materials and methods. The authors have studied the European standards and practice of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the right of a person to participate in the decision-making process on the provision of medical care, scientific works of specialists in the field of medical law, dedicated to the patient's right to informed consent to medical intervention, the right to refuse treatment and ethical standards of legal regulation of relations with the participation of patients using the formal-logical method, the method of structural analysis, comparative method and legal modeling. Results. The study has found that there are gaps in the normative regulation of the patient's right to participate in the decision-making process in the provision of medical care, which carries a potential danger of violating the right to respect for private and family life, guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Conclusions. It is proposed to eliminate these gaps by ratifying the Oviedo Convention by Ukraine, implementation of the institution of previously expressed wishes in the national legislation, determining the mechanism for drawing up, changing and revoking previously expressed medical directives, the designation an authorized person in case a patient is unable to independently express his or her own wishes for the provision of medical care taking into account the European experience, cultural characteristics of Ukrainian society, the state of functioning of the institutional and legal systems and the level of development of biology and medicine.

scholarly journals The Legal Framework and Barriers to Access to Environmental Information in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Abdulkader Mohammed Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Environmental Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
The Public ◽  
Barriers To Access ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access

Information plays a vital role, both in terms of its importance for a democratic order and as a prerequisite for public participation. Many countries have made provisions for access to information in their respective constitutions. The FDRE Constitution explicitly provides that everyone has the right to seek and receive information. The Freedom of Mass Media and Access to Information Proclamation –which entered into force in 2008– gives effect to this Constitutional guarantee. Moreover, the number of laws on different environmental issues is on the rise, and the same could be said of the multilateral environmental agreements that Ethiopia has ratified. Many of the laws incorporate the right of the public to access environmental information held by public bodies. Despite the existing legal framework, there are still notable barriers to access to environmental information. By analyzing the relevant laws, the aim of this article is to contribute to the dialogue on the constitutional right of access to information with particular emphasis on the legal framework on, and the barriers to, access to environmental information within the meaning of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration.

EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROGRAMME: A FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS (SABAK BERNAM DISTRICT LOCAL PLAN AND KUALA LUMPUR STRUCTURE PLAN)

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dasimah Omar ◽  
Oliver Ling Hoon Leh
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Agenda 21 ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Right To Know ◽  
The Right

Nowadays, public awareness on the potential dangers of environmental problems and the negative impact from the development has been increasing. Public has the right to know and participate in making decisions, particularly in those have potentially affect on the communities in which they live and work. Furthermore, Malaysia is adopting the Rio Declaration - Sustainable Development and Agenda 21. One of the fundamental prerequisites for the achievement of sustainable development is broad public participation in decision-making. Research had been carried out to identify the effectiveness of the public participation programme for Sabak Bemam District Local Plan 2002-2015 and Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan 2020. The research was carried out by collecting feedback from the participants of public exhibitions and workshops for both of the plans. Through the research, it was found that series of workshops are the effective method of public participation for development plan as compared to public exhibition after draft proposal of the plan has been completed. An effective and successful public participation programme should allow members of the community to have an active voice in the process and to have a free access to important information.

ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION MAKING IN A TRANSBOUNDARY CONTEXT: PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES FOR THE DENMARK-SWEDEN ØRESUND FIXED LINK

2000 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 529-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
WARWICK GULLETT
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Environmental Problems ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Policy Objectives

It is now possible to identify projects or activities in many countries whose policy objectives of promoting "sustainable development" have been achieved. The philosophy underlying the "sustainable development" concept captures misgivings about the nature of development and about social and technological ability to avoid further deterioration of the environment. Although many of the advances in environmental law and theory have occurred in international forums, implementation of sustainable development principles is less evident at the international than at the local level. The is due, in large part, to the difficulties created by multiple jurisdictions and the increased complexity of regional or global environmental problems. This paper considers the challenges and opportunities that exist for improving the implementation of the precautionary principle as a sustainability objective at the international level. It concentrates upon approval processes for development projects with potential cross-border environmental effects. A case study is provided of the decision making process for the Øresund Fixed Link between Denmark and Sweden.

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