March 10, 2022
What rights to information, participation and legal action do citizens and NGOs have at EU level? UfU’s four new short films and three brochures explain this clearly and concisely. The Aarhus Convention: An international treaty that gives everyone rights in environmental protection. The Aarhus Convention is the first international environmental treaty that sets international minimum standards for access to environmental information for all people, regulates participation in environmentally relevant decisions and establishes access to justice in environmental matters. UfU explains how this works in its four new short films (German with English subtitles). The focus is on the European level and not on implementation in the individual EU member states: 1) Introduction: What significance does the Aarhus Convention have for civil society’s rights to information, participation and legal action at EU level?
2) Environmental information: Every person and organization has the right to receive environmental information. But what is environmental information and how can it be obtained from EU institutions, e.g. the European Commission?
3) Public participation: What ways are there to get involved at EU level? For example, launching a European Citizens “Initiative, submitting an opinion in a legislative procedure or attending a European Citizens” Forum.
4) Legal protection: What legal action can you take for environmental protection in Europe? There are various complaint and legal action options for individuals and organizations.
You can find more information on the Aarhus Convention and your options for campaigning for environmental protection at European level in the three brochures in German and English:
Background:
The brochures and films were produced as part of the project “European Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in the Digital Age (EU-AarCo)”, which was funded by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. The aim of the project was to organize dialogue and positioning processes with regard to the implementation of the Aarhus Convention at European level and to develop information and educational materials on the topics of access to environmental information, participation and legal protection in environmental matters. In 2020 and 2021, a total of five digital Aarhus workshop discussions were organized by UfU. The results included the joint position paper “German-Portuguese-Slovenian Civil Society Declaration on Legal Access for Citizens and NGOs at EU Level” and the discussion paper “Strengthened e-participation in European environmental decision-making”. Further information on the workshop discussions can be found here: www.ufu.de/projekt/eu-aarko Further information on the Aarhus Convention and its implementation at European level can be found here: www.aarhus-konvention.de