The outcome of the Third Meeting of Parties to the Aarhus Convention, which took place in Riga, Latvia in June, was cause for most participants to celebrate. NGO coalition European ECO Forum claimed that it had successfully helped steer the UNECE’s Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in a “strong future direction.” ECO Forum was referring to the convention’s new strategic plan for 2009–14, which includes elements to enhance public participation and access to justice, and to recognise and rally support for civil society groups wishing to exercise their rights. Parties to the convention agreed in the plan that “serious environmental, social and economic challenges faced by societies worldwide cannot be addressed by public authorities alone without the involvement and support of a wide range of stakeholders, including individual citizens and civil society organisations.”

Ten years after being signed, Aarhus is in force across Europe and Central Asia, and widely viewed as the foremost legally binding instrument protecting the public’s environmental rights. Addressing a high-level contingent of the meeting, UNECE Executive Secretary Marek Belka said that the core principles of Aarhus “empower ordinary members of the public to hold governments accountable and to play a greater role in promoting more sustainable forms of development.” This is an important function for a legal instrument, and valid in countries with accountable governance, but not necessarily the usual state of affairs.

Some scepticism lingers, mostly concerning Europe’s ability and willingness to grant more rights to its citizens. The EU vetoed a proposal by Norway to improve citizens’ rights of access to information from private companies. Willem Kakebeeke, who chaired the Aarhus Convention negotiations, brought attention to another disturbing trend: the fact that EU member states have to “coordinate” in closed-door sessions that often block progress on key issues.

It was promised at the meeting to establish a task force to oversee the second pillar of the convention on public participation—an area of implementation that is historically weak, according to ECO Forum. “We NGOs have been insisting all along that the Aarhus Convention needs to address the weaknesses in the convention’s pillar on public participation,” said John Hontelez, secretary general of the European Environmental Bureau and head of the Public Participation Campaign.

Themeeting of parties also resulted in a decision on how to interpret amendments to the convention entering into force. This will have significant impact on when and how the GMO amendment, adopted in Almaty three years ago, will enter into force. “Despite the declarations of all parties to ensure rapid entry of the GMO amendment, this week the EU in fact practically brought the future of the amendment into doubt,” ECO Forum legal expert Serhey Vykhryrst.

The Riga Declaration, adopted at the meeting, recognises that implementation presents the main challenge for Aarhus. Thirty-five national reports and a synthesis report on implementation showed whether and how convention goals are being applied in practice. Alternative reports produced by civil society in several countries were much more critical of how Aarhus is actually being implemented, while others were formally asked to comply with convention principles and take greater steps toward implementation. Conditional cautions were issued at the meeting to Turkmenistan and Ukraine, both of whom had been found to be in non-compliance at the previous meeting of parties.

Riga delegates agreed to renew the task force’s mandate on access to justice, having identified this convention pillar as the one continuing to pose the greatest challenges. However, it remains to be seen whether the task force will be able to accomplish more than just exchanges of experience and capacity building. Although third-pillar implementation will be difficult, EU countries are resisting agreement on a stronger task force mandate.

In a special statement, the parties called for ratification of the Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers in order to bring it into force by 2009.

The REC has been an active player ever since the drafting and adoption of the Aarhus Convention, and has contributed to many of the strategic documents adopted by the Riga meeting of parties, including the synthesis report, strategy, work programme and mandates for different task forces and working groups. The REC and the Aarhus Convention have grown up together, and the convention has become one of the main mechanisms serving the REC in carrying out its mission.