E D I T O R I A L
We as environmental citizens' organisations are concerned about our future, we are concerned about the results of the second European assessment presented yesterday, showing that the environment in Europe continues to deteriorate and that in crucial areas current government policies provide no prospect for improvements.
We, representatives of millions and millions of people, can be a strong ally of you ministers in fighting violations of environmental rules, in avoiding mistakes in creating new infrastructure, in balancing short-term, self-interest motivated pressure on business, in creating new opportunities.
But we need the rights, the practical arrangements and a supportive attitude of authorities. We need transparency and public participation to become normal, ordinary, day to day features in the work of civil servants. And we have heard this afternoon that such a culture is lacking in many countries. The work of the Regional Environmental Center, the European Environmental Bureau, Ecopravo-Lviv, as well as that of Borrowed Nature, and all their partners, shows that many authorities lack willingness to respond, that narrow definitions of environmental information are being used, that broad categories of information are being exempt from disclosure, that time limits are not respected, that excessive charges, especially in Western countries, are used to discourage the public. With regard to the right to information, only a few countries have extensive participation possibilities for NGOs, and access to justice is present just in a few countries as well.
Giving the right to citizens to take an active part in protecting the environment is an essential right. It is maybe the only chance to reverse the trends of ongoing deterioration. Let's not forget that the environmental citizens organisations and the ministries for environment are the products of the same failure: the failure of an economy and a consumption culture to integrate environmental and biodiversity values. This failure has led to a growing demand from the public for a new type of development: sustainable development. This means indeed integration of environmental and biodiversity concerns, but also social relations between people and international relations between countries, based on equity, so that economic growth does not remain the sole answer to social and international tensions, to the expense of the environment.
Environmental ministers and environmental organisations need to lead to this process of mobilising society as a whole. And you, ministers, must give us tools, the access, the involvement, to play our part.