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Participatory Governance. A system of democratic governance has to involve ample opportunities for citizen and their organizations to engage with government – what is usually termed ‘participatory governance’. The main objective of the current phase of the CIVICUS Participatory Governance Programme, launched in 2006, is to enhance the capacity of southern civil society practitioners (CSOs and government actors) to promote participatory and accountable governance of public institutions at local and national levels. The Programme is based on an inclusive approach, involving a multitude of national and international civil society organizations (including existing networks, training institutes and organizations specialized in various aspects of participatory governance) in order to draw on comparative advantages and maximize programme impact. With alerts, brainstorming workshop report, contacts Programme concept note, newsletter and regional studies. ENGLISH
Publisher: CIVICUS, 2008.

UNEP Draft Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. A Consultative Meeting of Government Experts on the Draft Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi from 20 to 21 June 2008. This article reports on the initiative to draft the Guidelines taken to draw attention to the importance of these fundamental rights in environmental matters, expressed in the 1992 Rio Declaration’s Principle 10. The purpose of the Guidelines is primarily to provide guidance to developing countries and to countries with economies in transition when developing legislation and regulations on issues covered by the Guidelines. The Meeting recommended the Draft Guidelines be submitted to the UNEP Governing Council in February 2009, and once it is approved to ensure its dissemination in its countries members, in particular in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. ENGLISH
Publisher: The World Bank, 2008.

UNEP Draft Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. A Consultative Meeting of Government Experts on the Draft Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters was held at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi from 20 to 21 June 2008. The meeting was attended by representatives of 40 countries, mainly from developing countries, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. The initiative to draft the Guidelines was taken to draw attention to the importance of these fundamental rights in environmental matters, expressed in the 1992 Rio Declaration’s Principle 10. The purpose of the Guidelines is primarily to provide guidance to developing countries and to countries with economies in transition when developing legislation and regulations on issues covered by the Guidelines. They are to be regarded as minimum guidelines, on which national legislation could be based, and which would need to be tailored according to specific national circumstances. General comments were followed by discussions article per article, until a consensus was reached among the participants on the content and wording of articles. In general, there was no critical issue that could result to an impasse in the discussions. Some key issues that were discussed during the review of the draft are as follows: - The definition of the notions of “public” and “public concerned”. It was agreed to refer to the definition provided by the Aarhus Convention: (i) “The public” may be defined as one or more natural or legal persons, and, in accordance with national legislation or practice, their associations, organizations or groups. (ii) “The public concerned” may be defined as the public affected or likely to be affected by, or having an interest in, the environmental decision-making; for the purposes of this definition, non-governmental organizations promoting environmental protection and meeting any requirements under national law should be deemed to have an interest. - On the principle of access to information, it was agreed not to limit the scope and the nature of environmental information that can be provided to the public. Any country may define the scope and the nature of the information, according to its national laws and regulations, and the public interest. - On the principle of public participation, the participants were concerned about the appropriate level and timing of involvement of the public in a decision making process. - Access to information and public participation are linked in the sense that the participation can not be appropriate if the public does not have access to relevant information. - Both access to information and public participation are key factors to access to justice; as well as the human and logistic capacities of the competent institutions. - Access to justice may not be ensured if (i) the public is not informed on its rights and procedures to access to courts; (ii) the procedures are financially p ENGLISH
Publisher: The World Bank, 2008.

Environmental Democracy: An Assessment of Access to Information, Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Selected European Countries. This report evaluates the status of access rights implementation in selected countries of Europe using the findings of The Access Initiative. At the time of its publication in 2006, civil society coalitions had conducted TAI assessments in eight European countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Ukraine. In addition, pilot TAI case studies specific to access in the water management sector were conducted in Estonia and Ireland. The report documents how legal commitments are not necessarily realized in practice. Furthermore, implementation is uneven across the access rights, information rights being the easiest and justice rights being the most difficult to enforce. ENGLISH
Publisher: The Access Initiative Europe and EMLA Association, 2006.

Assessing Access To Information, Participation, and Justice In Environmental Decision-Making in Ireland. Prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency By Centre for Sustainability, Institute of Technology, Sligo in partnership with Department of Law, University College Cork COMHAR, the Sustainable Development Council, this report brings together the findings of an in-depth study of the application of the "access principles" in Ireland and makes recommendations under each "pillar" to respond to the gaps in environmental governance that are identified. The Aarhus Convention is the underlying yardstick against which Ireland's practice are measured. The researchers of the report employ a methodology developed by the Access Initiative (TAI) using 136 scored indicators. With a Guide to the Amended Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Process. ENGLISH
Publisher: Environmental Protection Agency, 2008.

Towards a code of good practice on public participation in Internet governance - Building on the principles of WSIS and the Aarhus Convention. The proposed workshop on public participation in Internet Governance took place on the second day of 3rd Internet Governance Forum, held in Hyderabad, India, 3-6 December 2008. ENGLISH
Dates: Thu 4 Dec 2008 to Thu 4 Dec 2008
Publisher: Internet Governance Forum, 2008.

Global Information Society Watch 2008. The 2008 thematic focus for Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is “access to infrastructure”. The Geneva Plan of Action that emerged from the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) declared information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure an “essential foundation for the Information Society” and identified it as one of six main action lines. 38 country reports are published here analysing the status of access in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. Besides thematic reports dealing with key issues affecting access, such as net neutrality, open standards, spectrum management, trends in technology and access to content, GISWatch includes regional overviews for North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the countries of the former Soviet Union, South-East Asia, and the Pacific. ENGLISH
Publisher: Association for Progressive Communications (APC), Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) and Third World Institute (ITeM), 2008.

IT for Change. IT for Change envisions a society capable of, and comfortable with, innovative and effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a means to further the goals of progressive social change. IT for Change champions change through its wide-ranging research and advocacy activities. The organization demonstrates innovative ICT possibilities in actual developmental situations through its field projects, which involve partnerships with community-based organizations and grassroots NGOs. ITfC is partnering with Mahila Samakhya Karnataka, an established grassroots initiative of the Government of India for empowering socially and economically disadvantaged women in rural areas through self-help group activity. ENGLISH
Publisher: ICT for Change, 2008.

Information Society Watch. The Information Society Watch (ISW) captures information society issues in the context of development needs of the South. It is intended for developing learning and knowledge-sharing platforms to help build perspectives for analysis, advocacy and action. It covers topics of Information Society policy, ICT for development (including environment), and society and culture. With News tracker. ENGLISH
Publisher: IT for Change, 2008.

Carbon Disclosure Project. The Carbon Disclosure Project is an independent not-for-profit organisation which acts as an intermediary between shareholders and corporations on all climate change related issues, providing primary climate change data from the world’s largest corporations, to the global market place. With the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index ENGLISH
Publisher: Carbon Disclosure Project, 2008.

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