This report, written for the Belgian federal department of the environment, analyses the extent to which and how Belgium applies the principles of the Aarhus Convention on Access to information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in international environmental decision-making processes in which it participates.
These principles were elaborated in the Almaty Guidelines adopted by the Convention’s Meeting of the Parties in 2005. In particular, the study assesses the efforts made by Belgian environmental authorities to inform stakeholders about and involve them in the processes through which Belgium’s negotiating positions for international environmental meetings are determined. It also assesses the efforts of Belgian delegations to promote and apply the Almaty Guidelines at international meetings through their positions on relevant rules of procedure and practices in these forums. The report analyses these practices in relation to 12 key global and regional MEAs and their respective protocols.
The report was distributed by the Belgian delegation at the 3rd Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention held in Riga last month and also presented by Kristof Geeraerts and Marc Pallemaerts at a stakeholder meeting organised by the Belgian Coordination Committee on International Environmental Policy in Brussels last week. The Riga meeting decided to continue the work on public participation in international forums and the implementation of the Almaty Guidelines over the next three years.
