The 4th meeting of the Working Group of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention will take place in Geneva on 1-4 February 2005. Among the items the Working Group will discuss are:
* The status of ratification of the Convention and the PRTR
Protocol,
* Preparations for the second meeting of the Parties (including
organizational matters and documents),
* An overview of contributions and expenditures in 2003 and 2004,
* The work programme for 2006-2008 and long-term strategic planning, and
* Accession by non-member States of UNECE to the Convention.
Documents for the Working Group meeting are available at
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/wgp.htm
The NGO coalition European ECO Forum has sent out an information note to its
Aarhus network asking for contributions to its preparations for the
next meeting of the Working Group. Public Participation in
decisions about GMOs, decision and recommendations on more
effective use of electronic information tools to provide public
access to environmental information, decision on Access to
Justice and further work on public participation in strategic
decision making (Article 7 and 8 of the Aarhus Convention) are
among the issues of biggest concern to NGOs, according to ECO Forum.
NGOs also are requested to send their first comments to the draft Almaty Declaration which is expected to be adopted by all participants of the MOP-2.
Those who are interested and willing to contribute to this preparatory process and become more active in the field of the Aarhus Convention, are invited to contact Mara Silina, Coordinator of the European ECO Forum Public Participation Campaign at <[email protected]>.
