Jonas Rüffer

As in the previous projects in 2019 and 2020, UfU is again supporting local small-scale projects in Central Vietnam for raising awareness among different population groups about local climate change issues and more climate-friendly options for action, as well as for capacity building of youth for more climate action. With funding from the German Federal Foreign Office’s Climate Fund and in cooperation with the Mientrung Institute for Scientific Research (MISR), UfU enables talented and young Vietnamese to develop their own project ideas and implement them locally.

At the beginning of the year, young people from Central Vietnam were able to apply with their own project ideas to the ideas competition of UfU and MISR. Of all the applications, the four best project ideas were selected for funding and subsequent implementation.

This year, the following small projects were selected:

• Raising awareness about climate change through a school garden. A demonstration project at Hoa Phuoc Primary School, Hoa Vang District, Da Nang City. Project development and implementation by students Kieu Thi Phuong, Phan Minh Luu An, Van Thi Thao Vy, Bui Van Quoc Trung and Tran Quang Huy.
• Raising public awareness of the carbon storage capacity of seagrass beds to mitigate climate change and minimize activities that lead to degradation of the seagrass ecosystem in Lang Co Lagoon, Thua Thien Hue Province. Project development and implementation by students Nguyen Huu Chi Tu and Nguyen Tu Uyen.
• Establish a climate change prevention and adaptation club in An Dong district, Hue city. Project development and implementation by young teachers Le Thi Thanh Nhan and Tran Thi Ngoc Cam of Hue Medical College.
• Increasing the rate of native tree species and a production forest in Cam Nghia village, Cam Lo district, Quang Tri province. Project development and implementation by Nguyen Van Ky Truong, Nguyen Xuan Tam and To Minh Hanh.

The overall project and the start of the four small projects were officially started with a kick-off workshop on September 26. Among the 25 participants were, besides the project teams, the mentors of some teams, some project winners from the last years and other interested young people. In a friendly and productive atmosphere, UfU gave an introduction to project management. Afterwards the challenges and plans of all projects and solutions and suggestions for improvement were discussed together. Until the end of February 2022, the small projects will now be implemented and accompanied under the support of UfU and MISR.

On 7. September 2021, Slovenian and German NGOs co-organised the Fifth Aarhus Workshop.

The NGOs invited governmental officials, legal scholars and experts as well as researchers to discuss the intertwining between human rights, climate laws and the Aarhus Convention in the European Union. The central question was, how civil society (organisations) are involved in environmental and climate policy processes at EU and Member State level.

The Aarhus Convention adopted in 1998 by the European Union and its Member States lays the foundations for the right to be informed, be able to effectively contribute own ideas of a climate-neutral Europe and also have the opportunity to take legal action. Due to this treaty civil society and NGOs have the right to go to court and challenge EU-decisions, when environmental and climate laws are presumed to be violated. Examples for those administrative decisions are approvals of new fossil fuel projects, fishing quotas, approvals of state aid for nuclear power plants and so on. Since the European Union is criticised for not allowing citizens and NGOs to review their decisions, there will be a new regulation implementing the Aarhus Convention. Therefore, it has been carefully discussed at the Workshop, whether the new regulation and other EU laws will finally fully comply with the Aarhus Convention.

For this reason, the Aarhus Workshop played a key role in bringing together a variety of stakeholders and raising awareness on how to improve citizen’s and NGOs (legal) involvement in climate and environmental protection. Around 50 participants from environmental associations, foundations, universities, governmental organisations as well as legal professionals mainly from Slovenia, Germany and Brussels region joint the Aarhus Workshop to tackle the implementation deficits within the European Union and also at Member State level. Moreover, this joint Workshop, taking place merely a few weeks before the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention (so-called “MoP 7”; from 18. to 21. October 2021 in Geneva) served as a crucial, decisive occasion, a springboard into a cleaner, greener future, where citizens are actively participating.

Speaker:

• Dr. Vasilka Sancin, Associate Professor at University of Ljubljana & Director of Centre for International and Business Law
• Dr. Roda Verheyen, LL.M., Environmental Lawyer of Rechtsanwälte Günther Partnerschaftsgesellschaft
• Mag. Senka Šifkovič Vrbica, Environmental Lawyer at the Institute for Spatial Policies (IPoP)
• Sebastian Bechtel, LL.M., Environmental Democracy Lawyer at ClientEarth Brussels
• Mag. Tanja Pucelj Vidovič, Focal Point for Aarhus Convention at the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning
• Matthias Sauer, Head of Unit of Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
• Alistair McGlone, Director at Alistair McGlone and Associates Ltd & former member of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee
• Dr. Maša Kovič Dine, Assistant Professor at University of Ljubljana
• Dr. Maria Alexandra de Sousa Aragão, Professor at the University of Coimbra
• Aljoša Petek, Environmental lawyer at PIC – Legal centre for the protection of human rights and the environment

In our first vivid panel discussion on the upcoming Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention (MoP-7) the panellists Mag Tanja Pucelj Vidovič; Matthias Sauer and Alistair McGlone discussed whether or not the European Union is granting its EU citizens and NGOs sufficient access to justice. Dr. Michael Zschiesche, Managing Director and Chairman of the UfU board, emphasised that: “The double standard by the European Union needs to stop. EU citizens and NGOs must be able to hold the European Union accountable, when their decisions harm the environment and the climate, as civil society can hold Member States accountable in environmental matters.”  Alistair McGlone further strongly underlined, that “The EU should champion accountability and the international rule of law to avoid damaging its reputation as a global leader in environmental forums.”

A second panel discussion covered the interplay between public participation in environmental decision-making and environmental and climate litigation. Dr. Maša Kovič Dine, Dr. Maria Alexandra de Sousa Aragão and Aljoša Petek, – put it this way: “Proper planning and approval procedures with early, inclusive and effective public participation on Member State and EU level can prevent lengthy and expensive legal disputes in courts. Active citizenship prevents long-term financial costs by environmental degradation.”

All panellists agreed, that the current participation formats do not meet the needs of the younger generation, which is heavily engaged in climate protection and sustainable development.

Presentations:
– Human Rights, European & National Climate Laws and the Importance of the Aarhus Convention (PDF)
– Slovenian environmental NGO’s perspective on Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union regarding environmental matters

Press Release:
How the European Union violates international environmental law since two decades

NGOs that organised the workshop:

• UfU – the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues,
• PIC – the legal centre for the protection of human rights and the environment,
• IPoP – The Institute for Spatial Policies
• Umanotera – the Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development
• Centre for International and Business Law (CIEL)

About the workshops:

A total of five online Aarhus Workshops were organised by UfU in 2020 and 2021. On 11 May 2020, 30. June 2020, 17 November 2020 and on 24 March 2021 interested participants from Belgium, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia took part in the digital Workshops. A joint position paper “German Portuguese Slovenian Civil Society Declaration on Access to Justice for Citizens & NGOs at European Union Level“ was published. UfU thanks all who contributed to the five Aarhus Workshops. All persons involved made this series of events a success.

All Aarhus Workshops are part of the project “European Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Digital Age (EU-AarKo)” of the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues ­ UfU e.V. This project is financially supported by the German Environment Agency (UBA) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety within the framework of the sponsorship of environmental associations.

For any questions around the Fifth Aarhus Workshop, please contact Kathleen Pauleweit (UfU) kathleen.pauleweit@ufu.de or Aljoša Petek (PIC) aljosa.petek@pic.si.

More information on environmental democracy on European Union level can be found here (German): http://www.aarhus-konvention.de/

For more information about the EU-AarKo project and its background, click here.

Nomination of Prof. Dr. Thomas Schomerus to serve the Aarhus Committee of the United Nations by a strong alliance of European environmental NGOs

We congratulate a long-standing UfU partner and co-author to his nomination to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC). On 22. July 2021 the Austrian OEKOBUERO – Alliance of the Environmental Movement, the German Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) e.V., the European Network Justice & Environment, the Ukrainian Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment” and the European Environmental Bureau, acting on the behalf of the European ECO Forum, have nominated Mr. Schomerus. The NGO candidate might be elected at the next Meeting of the of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention in October 2021.

Non-governmental organisations can – next to Parties and Signatories to the Aarhus Convention – nominate persons with recognised (legal) competence in Aarhus topics and of high moral character to serve the ACCC. For the first time since 2002 where the Compliance Committee was established, a German Committee member could be elected by its 47 Parties at the Seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (MoP 7). The UfU would strongly welcome the first German ACCC membership by Mr. Thomas Schomerus due to his widely appreciated acknowledged legal competence in Aarhus topics and his high moral character.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. (GTU Tiflis) Thomas Schomerus has been a civil servant (Regierungsrat, Oberregierungsrat) for eight years of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. He conducted permitting procedures, including public participation procedures with oral hearings. He has valuable practical experience in the application and enforcement of environmental law. During this time, he also represented the City of Hamburg in the Federal Council (Bundesrat). The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen federated states (Bundesländer) of Germany. Through the Bundesrat, the Bundesländer participate in the legislation and administration of the Federal Republic and in matters of the European Union.

In addition, he has served as a much-respected administrative law judge at the Higher Administration Court (Oberverwaltungsgericht) of Lower Saxony in Lüneburg (7th Senate). In this role, he was entrusted with complex approval procedures and gained a broad overview of German and European jurisprudence in the infrastructure sector.

Moreover, Mr. Schomerus is an award-winning University Professor of Public Law, in particular Environmental and Energy Law, of the Leuphana University Lüneburg in northern Germany. He has not only published over 300 books, articles and commentaries (including on the Environmental Information Act) and worked on numerous research projects, the also shared his practical and scientific expertise at Task Force and Working Group meetings of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention.

Most recently, UfU had the honour to prepare a first comprehensive study together with Mr. Schomerus evaluating the Federal Environmental Information Act for the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA). UfU is an independent and application-oriented research institute in eastern Germany with several Aarhus-related research projects. UfU highly appreciates Mr. Schomerus’ strong practical approach in applying environmental law. Mr. Schomerus is not only distinguished by his fruitful collaboration with the UfU, but also by his voluntary commitment to the German Society for Environmental Law (Gesellschaft für Umweltrecht, GfU) and Friends of the Earth Germany (Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, BUND).

Mr. Schomerus’ work area is not limited to Germany. He has carried out numerous international projects in a wide range of countries within the UNECE region, inter alia Russia, the United Kingdom, United States of America, as well as European Union countries. He has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Tbilisi (Georgia). He is part of an international network with work activities in China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, and Taiwan.

To conclude, Mr. Schomerus is an outstanding legal expert highly respected by civil society actors, practitioners and governmental agencies of Germany and beyond. His work and contributions has been most appreciated by UfU, in his practical work for the City of Hamburg, the Higher Administration Court of Lower Saxony, the Federal Council (Bundesrat) as well his scholar work at international meetings to the Aarhus Convention and at the Leuphana University Lüneburg. Mr. Schomerus impresses greatly with his diligent work ethic and dedication. He comports himself with integrity at all times. Therefore, UfU is deeply convinced that Mr. Schomerus will contribute with his excellent legal, practical and scientific expertise to the invaluable work of the Compliance Committee.

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC), which reviews the compliance with the Aarhus Convention by state parties, is in many cases the last chance of environmental associations and environmentally-concerned individuals to review compliance with environmental law beyond their national jurisdiction. They can turn to the ACCC with an individual communication, which can be seen as modelled by various individual human rights complaints.

The Aarhus Convention is a multilateral environmental agreement which promotes environmental democracy within the UNECE region. The Aarhus Convention grants the public and environmental NGOs rights regarding access to environmental information, public participation and access to justice, in governmental decision-making processes on environmental matters.

Register here if you want to join the digital Fifth Aarhus Workshop on Human Rights, European and National Climate Laws and the Importance of the Aarhus Convention on 7. September 2020 before the MoP 7.

To find out more about projects promoting environmental democracy by the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues click here.

Florian Kliche, Managing Director of UfU, is an honorary advisory board member of the Umwelt€uro. What he does there and what the Umwelt€uro is, he explains to us in a short interview.

UfU: Dear Florian, you have been a member of the Umwelt€uro project advisory board since 2019. What is the Umwelt€uro and how did it come about?

Florian Kliche: First of all, you have to know that there are simply an incredible number of non-profit organisations in Berlin that have good ideas and projects and are committed to this city. At the same time, the pavement is tough, especially for the small initiatives like neighbourhood gardens, non-profit workshops or educational initiatives. Many associations need regular donations and only survive through volunteers who support the associations in their free time. The Umwelt€uro is a campaign by the Berlin company GASAG, coordinated by Berlin 21 e.V., to support precisely these small initiatives and projects in Berlin.

UfU: How does the Umwelt€uro work?

Florian Kliche: As a non-profit organisation, I can apply to the Umwelt€uro with my initiative. For example, initiatives to protect city trees, to grow vegetables for children or to repair donated bicycles have already applied. The condition is that the project has an environmental connection as well as a relation to Berlin. We as the project advisory board look at the applications received and then include them in the campaign.

UfU: Once a project is included in the campaign, what happens next?

Florian Kliche: Now the collecting can begin. GASAG is providing 50,000 Euros for the campaign. Consumers decide which initiative gets how much money via the Umwelt€uro codes. These codes are available at various GASAG campaigns and also at the initiatives. This way, consumers can decide which initiative they want to support.

UfU: You are also the managing director of UfU. Why is the campaign close to your heart?

Florian Kliche: I am in a very good position. UfU now has almost 40 full-time employees working for us. This puts us in a position to participate in complicated tenders and to apply for large pots. However, one should not forget that there are many associations and initiatives that do not or not yet have this opportunity. That’s why I think it’s important to support this campaign.

UfU: Are there still free places for initiatives?

Florian Kliche: Yes, you can still apply. We are looking forward to more great projects and initiatives that want to take part in the campaign.

You can find the initiative here: https://unternehmen.gasag.de/nachhaltigkeit/umwelteuro

UfU has moved. The address remains the same, but we are now in new, even larger offices in the House of Democracy and Human Rights. For UfU, this move is also an investment in the future in times of Corona and home office. We are growing steadily and we believe that the trend towards home office will continue after the pandemic. Nevertheless we would like to give our staff the opportunity to work in an office in the future as well.

The UfU is now located in the middle and back building on the fourth floor, thus also reuniting two previously separate parts of the Institute.

Some of us are still unpacking the boxes, but we are already looking forward to visitors to the Institute.

On 24 March 2021, the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues e.V. – UfU – and the University of Coimbra organised the fourth digital Aarhus Workshop to discuss public participation and access to justice at European Union level. While UfU hosted and moderated the fourth Aarhus Workshop, Ms. Dr. Alexandra Aragão, who is a reknown Portuguese Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra, teaching environmental law, European law, risk governance and food security law, enriched the event with her well-founded and substantial presentations and contributions.

More than 20 Aarhus-interested participants from environmental associations, foundations, universities, governmental organisations as well as legal professionals took part in the fourth digital Aarhus Workshop. Most participants came from Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, those three countries, who are together holding the EU Trio Council Presidency in 2020 and 2021. On 1 January 2021, Portugal took over the EU Council Presidency from Germany and it will soon be handed over to Slovenia.

At the beginning of the Workshop, Dr. Catarina Grilo, Director of Conservation & Policy at ANP in association with WWF Portugal, delivered some insights on the Portuguese Presidency of the Council. After Catarina’s sharp observations on Portugal’s achievements in strengthening European environmental law and environmental democracy, Sebastian Bechtel, LLM, environmental democracy lawyer at ClientEarth Brussels, provided a captivating presentation on the new developments around the Amendment of the European Aarhus Regulation. The short presentation on access to justice included the advice of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee in ACCC/M/2017/3 of 12 February 2021 and the findings of the Committee in ACCC/C/2015/128 (European Union) of 17 March 2021. He talked about the current legislative procedure and how environmental NGOs and other stakeholder participate in it.

After a short break the main focus of the Workshop laid on two questions: “How can citizens & NGOs participate in European environmental decision-making?” and “How can electronic public participation in European environmental decision-making be strengthened?” First, Prof Dr. Alexandra Aragão gave an overview of the multifaceted public participation opportunities in Europe, e.g. the Eurobarometer, public consultations, legislative initiatives or citizen science. After the systematic presentation of central reactive and pro active participation options for European citizens and environmental NGOs by Ms. Aragão, a Panel discussion on online public consultations, who are conducted by the European Commission, followed. Part of the multi-stakeholder panel discussion were a legal scholar, two environmental NGO experts and one participation expert respectively:

• Prof. Dr. Maria Alexandra de Sousa Aragão,
• Rebecca Humphries, Senior Public Affairs Officer at WWF European Policy Office (EPO)
• Dr. Raphael Weyland, Head of Brussels Office at Nature & Bio-diversity Conservation Union (NABU) in association with BirdLife Europe, as well as
• Anna Renkamp, Senior Project Manager Bertelsmann Stiftung.

The main arguments of all panellists during the fruitful discussions are captured in the Presentation to our fourth Aarhus Workshop

After the panel discussion some time was left to discuss the pressing question where and how citizens and NGO representatives could complain if they could not participate effectively online.

Due to the limited time available to discuss the online public consultations conducted by the European Commission, UfU and the University of Coimbra agreed to prepare a discussion paper on strengthened E-participation in European environmental decision-making.

The next and final fifth Aarhus Workshop on 7. September 2021 will fall under the EU Council Presidency by Slovenia. It will be held shortly before the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention (MoP 7) from 18. to 21. October 2021. If you want to join the fifth Aarhus Workshop, please register here: https://www.ufu.de/en/5-aarhus-workshop/.

All five Aarhus Workshops are part of the project “European Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Digital Age (EU-AarKo)” of the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues ­ UfU e.V. This project is financially supported by the German Environment Agency (UBA) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety within the framework of the sponsorship of environmental associations.

For more information about this project and its background, click here.

For any questions, please contact Kathleen Pauleweit: kathleen.pauleweit@ufu.de

Third Aarhus Workshop on „How could access to justice at European Union level be improved?”

Almost three dozen Aarhus-interested participants from environmental associations, the legal profession and specialised lawyers took part in the third Aarhus Workshop on 17 November 2020. Sebastian Bechtel, environmental democracy lawyer for ClientEarth Brussels, introduced the Workshop with two intriguing presentations on the challenging questions: “What is wrong with access to justice in the European Union?” and “Does the Amendment to the Aarhus Regulation help?”. Two panel discussions with Aarhus experts from Germany, Portugal and Slovenia ­ the EU countries which are currently sharing the Trio Council Presidency till the end of 2021 ­ further elaborated on access to justice hurdles and identified concrete areas for improvement. Dr Raphael Weyland, Head of Brussels Office at Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU); Catarina Grilo, PhD, Director of Conservation and Policy at ANP in association with WWF; and Senka Šifkovi Vrbica, legal expert at PIC Slovenia, shared their hands-on experience around accessing European and Member State courts. Dr Maria Alexandra de Sousa Aragão, Professor at University of Coimbra; Dr Vasilka Sancin, Associate Professor at University of Ljubljana and Director of Centre for International and Business Law; as well as Sebastian Bechtel, discussed with the participants how access to justice at European Union level could be further strengthened.

A joint position paper was developed during the third Aarhus Workshop. The “German Portuguese Slovenian Civil Society Declaration on Access to Justice for Citizens & NGOs at European Union Level” can be found here.

For any questions, please contact us: kathleen.pauleweit@ufu.de

The workshop is part of the project “European Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Digital Age (EU-AarKo)” of the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU e.V.). This project is funded by the German Environment Agency (UBA) and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety within the framework of the sponsorship of environmental associations.

For more information about this project and its background, click here.

SAVE THE DATE 

Join us online on November 4th, 2020 for the Release Event of our study  “Civic space for participation in climate policies in Colombia, Georgia and Ukraine”

Civil society actors are key in raising the ambition of climate policies. Without civil society, there will be no socially just transition to a fossil-free world. National climate plans, including the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and long term climate strategies, benefit from diverse stakeholder engagement.

During the last months, UfU worked on a comprehensive study about opportunities of civil society (organizations) to participate in climate policies in Colombia, Georgia and Ukraine. In cooperation with BUND / Friends of the Earth Germany and Censat Agua Viva (COL), Ecoaction (UKR) and Greens Movement Georgia (GEO) the environment and conditions for climate-related participation were analyzed, such as the legal framework for participation, as well as concrete practices of participatory policy making, for example related to the recent revision of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

We invite you to discuss with us the criteria for good practices of involving civil society in climate policy.  The aim of the event is to inform about the results of the study and to bring together government and civil society actors for achieving better climate plans.

The event takes place on Wednesday, November 4 from 3 pm – 5.30 pm CET.

The detailed program will be announced in October. We will be using Zoom for the video conference, registration is required and will be possible from the end of October.

For any questions, please contact us: eva.laderick@bund.net

We look forward to seeing you online in November!
The event organization team

The event is part of the project Strengthen Civil Society for the implementation of national climate policy (ZIVIKLI) of BUND / Friends of the Earth Germany and the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU e.V.). This project is part of the International Climate Initiative. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety promotes the initiative on the basis of a resolution of the German Federal Parliament.

 For more information about this project and its background click here.

Interest in and needs for E-Learning formats regarding environmental protection in Vietnam

In the project DigiViet, UfU analyzed the current need for E-Learning formats dealing with environmental protection and the management of contaminated sites in Vietnam. This was supplemented by insights into some “Best-Practice” examples for E-Learning opportunities from Vietnam as well as other countries. The knowledge, collected through expert interviews and an online survey for employees from environmental agencies at the provincial level (DONREs), was summarized in the study E-Learning Opportunities regarding Environmental Protection in Vietnam: Key considerations for an E-Learning Platform about the Management of Contaminated Sites.

A summary of this study is now available in English and Vietnamese.

The DigiViet-Study came to the conclusion that in Vietnam, there is a strong interest in and need for E-Learning opportunities in general, but also in the environmental sector. The Vietnamese government supports the development of E-Learning formats and in the past years passed a comprehensive and modern legislation.

All experts who participated in our interviews and the online survey showed interest in E-Learning formats related to the management of contaminated sites.

In Vietnam, E-Learning opportunities are mostly offered by universities and schools, while the majority of all respondents identified the need for an E-Learning format about contaminated site management for the training of public agency staff.

The knowledge collected for the DigiViet-study contributes to the development of the first online-training about contaminated site management for staff from DONREs in Vietnam. The training E-Learning Opportunities regarding Environmental Protection in Vietnam is part of the project CapaViet2. While the Vietnamese version of the training is intended for public authority staff in Vietnam, the English version will be accessible for a wider audience at the UfU website.

Fore more information about this project and to see our publications on this subject click here.

Invitation to the third digital Aarhus Workshop
The Department of Environmental Law & Participation invites you to a series of events on challenges of implementing the Aarhus Convention at the European level.

Series of Events 2020/2021
Challenges of Implementing the Aarhus Convention at the European Level (EU-AarKo)
When: Spring 2020 to Autumn 2021
Where: Berlin, Lisbon and Ljubljana

As part of the project “European Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Digital Age (EU-AarKo)”, the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU) e.V. provides during the EU Council Presidency of the four Member States Croatia, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia an open space for the European civil society, experts and practitioners in the field of environmental law to exchange their views and adopt a clear position on the lack of effective access to European courts (communication ACCC/C/2008/32 to Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention).

A total of five events will take place in Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. On 11 May 2020 and 30 June 2020 interested participants from Germany and Belgium took part in the first two digital workshop discussions. The next English virtual workshop will take place in November 2020. In spring 2021, another workshop may take place in Lisbon, Portugal. Before a final event in Berlin rounds off the series of events at the end of the year 2021, UfU is planning a fifth workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in autumn 2021.

Third Aarhus Workshop
When: 17th November 2020, 2 pm -5 pm (CET)
How: Zoom Meeting

We would like to invite you to our third digital Aarhus Workshop, which will be held as a Zoom meeting on 17th November 2020, from 2pm to 5 pm (CET). We would particularly like to discuss with you how effective access to justice on the European Union level could look like. Among other issues, we will exchange opinions on the draft amendment to the Aarhus Regulation, which is to be published by then. The objective of the workshop is to develop a joint position paper.

The event is free of charge. Please register by sending a short e-mail with the subject heading “Yes, third workshop talk” to (larissa.donges@ufu.de) if you would like to participate. All interested participants will receive the detailed programme and registration information via e-mail.

If you have any questions regarding the topics of the workshop, please contact our dear colleague Kathleen Pauleweit (kathleen.pauleweit@ufu.de).

You will find more information about the Aarhus Convention and the Aarhus Workshops here.