June 2011, Eastern Europe

The fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP 4) to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) took place from the 29^th of June 2011 to the 1^st of July 2011 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.

Jan Dusik from the Czech Republic and chair of MOP 4 emphasised the main objectives on the session as; assessing progress in implementation, adopting decision for future work and discussing the theme of the role of the Aarhus Convention in promoting Sustainable Development.

Around 400 participants from governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, private sector and academia attended the session. The main items in the Agenda were as follow:

-          Genetically Modified Organisms

-          Access to Information

-          Public Participation

-          Access to Justice

-          Public Participation in International Forums

-          Procedures Facilitating Implementation Reporting

-          Compliance Mechanism

-          Implementation Guide

-          Capacity Building

-          Promotion of the Convention, Accession by Non-UNECE States

-          Awareness Raising

-          Synergies with other Conventions

-          UNEP Initiatives

-          Implementation of the 2009-2011 Work Programme

-          2012-2014 Work Programme

-          Financial Arrangements

-          Strategic Planning

The status of ratifications was also discussed during the session; three new parties to the Aarhus Convention were announced Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The latter announced the intention of ratifying the PRTR protocol by the end of 2012. 

The MOP adopted the Chisinau Declaration “Rio Plus Aarhus-20 Years on: Bearing Fruit and Looking Forward”, as well as several decisions on the three pillars of the Convention –access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters- compliance and the operations of the Convention. Additionally, the draft decision and all outcomes included in the draft meeting report were also adopted by the delegates. Finally, Ukraine expressed interest in hosting the MOP 5. 

Original article available at: http://www.iisd.ca/download/pdf/sd/ymbvol190num1e.pdf