The Aarhus Convention

The Aarhus Convention, which is open for global accession, offers powerful twin protections for the environment and human rights. It provides an effective model for ensuring public input in defining and implementing green economy programmes, in choosing the most appropriate road maps to sustainability and for increasing transparency and Government accountability, thereby putting Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development into practice and paving the way for its universal application. The Aarhus Convention Implementation Guide is therefore intended as a convenient non-legally binding and user-friendly reference tool to assist policymakers, legislators and public authorities in their daily work of implementing the Convention and of realising the provisions of Principle 10 in practice. It is also hoped that it will assist members of the public and environmental non-governmental organizations to exercise their rights under the Convention. The Implementation Guide provides both a general overview of the principles behind the Convention and a detailed article-by-article analysis of its provisions. In its analysis, the Guide draws on other international law instruments in the area of the environment and human rights, decisions adopted by the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, findings of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, academic writings and examples from national legislation and practice.