Environmental Reporting and Information Sources

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Profession: Faculty of Law University of Ottawa
• Pages: 379-386

379

CHA PTER 18

ENVIRONMENTAL

REPORTING AND

INFOR M ATION SOURCES

A. INTRODUCTION

Under the auspices of the Economic Comm ission 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 i nformation, in

whatever form, relating to:

(a) The state of elements of the envir onment, such a s air and

atmosphere, w ater, soil, landscape, and natural sites, biological

diversity and its components, includ ing genetically modif‌ied or-

ganisms, and t he interaction among these elements;

(b) Factors such as substa nces, ene rgy, noise, and radiat ion, and ac-

tivities or measures, including administrative measure s, environ-

mental agreements, policies, legi slation, plans, and programmes,

affecting or likely to affect the elements of the environment

within the scope of subpar agraph (a) above, and cost-benef‌it and

other economic analyse s and assumptions used in envi ronment-

al decision-maki ng;

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

cultural sites and built structures, i nasmuch as they are or m ay

be a ffected by t he state of the elements of the environment or,