The round table, held on 16 and 17 October 2013 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, was a joint event of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and was organized under the leadership of the Government of Austria. It came at a time of growing public concern over issues related to loss of biodiversity and citizens' environmental rights, and it coincided with the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
