Environmental Reporting and Information Sources

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Profession: Faculty of Law University of Ottawa
• Pages: 320-325

320

CHAPTER 18

ENVIRONMENTAL

REPORTING AND

INFORMATION SOURCES

A. INTRODUCTION

Under the auspices of the Economic Commission for Europe an agree-

ment was reached at Aarhus, Denmark, in 1998 concerning access to

information, public participation in decision making and access to jus-

tice in environmental matters. In this context, the Aarhus Convention

formally defined “environmental information” as any information, in

whatever form, relating to:

(a) The state of elements of the environment, such as air and atmos-

phere, water, soil, landscape, and natural sites, biological diver-

sity and its components, including genetically modified

organisms, and the interaction among these elements;

(b) Factors such as substances, energy, noise, and radiation, and

activities or measures, including administrative measures, envi-

ronmental agreements, policies, legislation, plans, and pro-

grammes, affecting or likely to affect the elements of the

environment within the scope of subparagraph (a) above, and

cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used

in environmental decision-making;

(c) The state of human health and safety, conditions of human life,

cultural sites and built structures, inasmuch as they are or may

be affected by the state of the elements of the environment or,