A European Commitment to Environmental Citizenship: Article 3.7 of the Aarhus Convention and Public Participation in International Forums

Abstract

This article examines a European commitment to “promote the application of” participatory democratic principles “in international environmental decision-making processes and within the framework of international organizations in matters relating to the environment." Article 3.7 of the 1998 UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Access to Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) incorporates this commitment as part of a much broader regional accord aimed at increased public access to environmental matters. While the Aarhus Convention is concerned primarily with participation at a domestic level, Article 3.7 makes a unique promise about state behavior in international forums (understood broadly to include institutions, bodies, secretariats, meetings, and so on). Its provenance suggests a concern with whether Europeans can expect their governments to advance the principles of participatory democracy on the international stage and also a concern with the kind of "citizenship" that non-state actors might hope to achieve when engaging international forums on environmental issues. This article asks what implications the Aarhus commitment may have for two ongoing debates - first, a normative debate over the appropriate role of non-state actors as active constituents in international lawmaking and, second, a more practical debate over how best to engage non-state actors in the work and oversight of international institutions. The article details the origins of Article 3.7 and examines implementing guidelines approved at a 2005 Meeting of the Parties in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It concludes with observations about the effect of Article 3.7 in terms of the ongoing normative and practical debates over non-state participation in international lawmaking.

Keywords: International Law, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Public Participation, Access, Law and Democracy, Natural Resources Law, Citizenship, Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, Civil Society, European Union, Aarhus Convention

JEL Classification: H1, H11, H4, H41, K32, K33