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Information Disclosure and Environmental Rights: The Aarhus Convention

Author

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  • Michael Mason

    (Michael Mason is Senior Lecturer with the Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK. In addition to publishing in a wide range of academic journals, he is the author of Environmental Democracy (1999) and The New Accountability: Environmental Responsibility across Borders (2005). His recent research is on climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Middle East, which has resulted in a co-edited volume (with Amit Mor) Renewable Energy in the Middle East (2009) and lead authorship of the UNDP Report Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2010).)

Abstract

Access to information is the first "pillar" of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998). This article examines how the information disclosure obligations on states within the Aarhus Convention express a particular blend of human environmental rights, conjoining procedural entitlements (and duties) with a substantive right to an environment adequate to human health and well-being. "Aarhus environmental rights" have been lauded for increasing citizen access to environmental information, helping to secure more transparent and accountable regulatory processes. However, the information rights are rendered inconsistent in practice by three properties: 1) the discretion accorded to Convention Parties in interpreting Aarhus rights; 2) the exclusion of private entities from mandatory information disclosure duties; and 3) the indeterminate coupling of procedural and substantive rights. These tensions reflect a structural imbalance in the articulation of Aarhus rights between social welfare and market liberal perspectives. (c) 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Mason, 2010. "Information Disclosure and Environmental Rights: The Aarhus Convention," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 10(3), pages 10-31, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:glenvp:v:10:y:2010:i:3:p:10-31
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Duncan Weaver, 2018. "The Aarhus convention and process cosmopolitanism," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 199-213, April.
    2. De Santo, Elizabeth M., 2016. "Assessing public “participation” in environmental decision-making: Lessons learned from the UK Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) site selection process," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 91-101.
    3. Suzanne Kingston & Zizhen Wang & Edwin Alblas & Mícheál Callaghan & Julie Foulon & Clodagh Daly & Deirdre Norris, 2022. "Europe’s nature governance revolution: harnessing the shadow of heterarchy," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 793-824, December.
    4. Khadija Zulfiqar & M Jahanzeb Butt, 2021. "Preserving Community’s Environmental Interests in a Meta-Ocean Governance Framework towards Sustainable Development Goal 14: A Mechanism of Promoting Coordination between Institutions Responsible for ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-25, September.
    5. Natalia Aguilar Delgado & Paola Perez-Aleman, 2021. "Inclusion in Global Environmental Governance: Sustained Access, Engagement and Influence in Decisive Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Sorin-Alexandru VERNEA, 2022. "The Romanian Legal Regime Of Access To Information In Environmental Matters," FIAT IUSTITIA, Dimitrie Cantemir Faculty of Law Cluj Napoca, Romania, vol. 16(1), pages 115-126, February.
    7. Mi Sun Park & Hyowon Lee, 2016. "Legal Opportunities for Public Participation in Forest Management in the Republic of Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-13, April.

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