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An International Conference to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Aarhus Convention

Ten years ago, in June 1998, 35 states and the European Community signed the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention) at a pan-European ministerial conference in Aarhus.

To celebrate this the University of Aarhus will host a conference in close cooperation with the French Presidency of the European Union Council, the Danish Ministry of Environment, the Dan­ish Ministry of Climate and Energy, the European Environment Agency, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Municipality of Aarhus. The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Aarhus University and the Climate Secretariat are responsible for the practical organisation of the conference. The conference brings together leading scientists, policy-makers, authorities, NGO’s, business stakeholders and business organisations etc. to discuss how to promote public access to information and public participation in addressing climate change and its effects and in developing adequate responses, by facilitating feedback, debate and partnerships in respect to solutions and governance.

The conference will address synergies across the first two ‘pillars’ of the Aarhus Convention - access to information and public participation - and examine the broader implications of these interactions for an advanced implementation of Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the “New Delhi Work Programme”. The conference will focus in particular on the role of public access to environmental science-based information and public participation in decision-making on issues related to climate policy as provided under regulatory instruments facilitated by the Aarhus Convention that are crucial to local, regional and global success of the UNFCCC.

Key topics of the conference are:

• The importance of scientific based environmental information and findings as a basis for public awareness as well as for political awareness of climate issues;

• Access to environmental information that can provide synergy between mitigation measures and adaptation needs;

• The importance of public participation as an integrated part of decision-making on adaptation and mitigation policies; and

• Public participation as a means by which political and social values and tradeoffs are incorporated into political decisions on climate related issues.