Launched on 20 May 2015, www.EnvironmentalDemocracyIndex.org is an interactive platform that allows users to explore, rank, and compare information related to environmental democracy measures for countries worldwide - the right to know, the right to be heard, the right to access justice.
2. LALANATH DE SILVA, DIRECTOR, THE ACCESS INITIATIVE | JESSE WORKER, ASSOCIATE, WRI
ENVIRONMENTAL
DEMOCRACY INDEX
LAUNCH
May 20, 2015
3. THE ACCESS INITIATIVE (TAI)
Est. in 1999: WRI as Secretariat
NETWORK of 200+ civil society
organizations in 50+ countries
MISSION: to strengthen public
rights to participate in
environmental decision-making
through evidence-based
advocacy
Photo: Flickr/CIFOR
4. WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL DEMOCRACY?
INFORMATION publicly
available, accessible, and relevant
environmental information
PARTICIPATION meaningful
opportunities for the public to shape
decisions that have environmental
impacts
JUSTICE accountability and
grievance mechanisms to enforce laws
and compensate for harms
Photo: Flickr/UN Photo/Tobin Jones
5. THE CHALLENGE
• In many countries laws are weak
or absent.
• Practice lags behind the law
• Measuring progress is essential
to creating change
Photo: Flickr/UN Photo/Tobin Jones
6. WHAT IS EDI?
NATIONAL RULES & LAWS
Relevant and legally-binding
75
Legal Indicators scored to
create the index
24
Supplemental Practice
Indicators provide key insights
7. WHY EDI?
• First of its kind
• Benchmarks to 2010
UNEP Bali Guidelines
• Limits subjectivity with
clear scoring criteria
• Makes data easily accessible
• Engages governments and
stakeholders
8. KEY FINDINGS
• Top ten countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, United
State (tied), South Africa (tied), United Kingdom,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Panama and Colombia
• Better legal protection in Aarhus Convention
countries
• Wealth is important, but it’s not the only factor
9. KEY FINDINGS
• Countries that have good laws tend to have more
observable good practices
• Countries scored best on access to information
laws, while public participation lagged behind
• 73% of EDI countries environmental cases are heard
in court.
10. NOTES ON METHODS
• Scores provisional until August 31st
• Federal vs. Unitary
• Practice indicators not comprehensive
Photo: Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10816734@N03/3492673802/
Photo: Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10816734@N03/3492673802/
Flickr/CIFOR - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciat/7165484335/
What have we learned from 15 years of TAI research and advocacy?
There is often a lack of easily accessible and well-researched evidence on the status and quality of environmental transparency regimes, rights to engage, and the public’s ability to seek solutions through administrative or judicial means. There is an even greater dearth of evidence on implementation.
Not only was a body of knowledge created, but so was the capacity of TAI members to conduct this research and engage decision-makers with the evidence.
Building this evidence and civil society capacity created opportunities to influence governments and this has produced several Tier 1 outcomes over the years. It can take time, as in Paraguay’s passage of a Right to Information law this year.
Finally, these assessments are costly and time consuming. Prevented follow ups to measure progress.
Revealed the need for an independent benchmarking tool to track progress in environmental democracy. The importance of engaging with governments in this process as well.
Flickr/CIAT - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciat/6520240743/
When we talk about environmental democracy, we are talking about three essential rights that allow for the public to influence decisions that affect the quality of their environment—and thus their health, livelihoods, and culture.
The environmental rights of transparency, participation, and access to justice are essential to sustainable development and the public interest.
Right now it is difficult to compare content and quality and implementation of access rights across countries
Advocates need to hold governments accountable for weak laws
Even when laws are strong, there is little to no monitoring of implementation. Enforcement can be inconsistent.
These rights are not currently being measured, especially not in relation to one another
Pressure on environmental continues to grow; despite Rio convention being 22 years old, many countries still lag behind
Environmental democracy rights are essential to provide a voice for those who are often left out of development decision-making and thus are critical for sustainable development
Photo: Flickr/UN Photo/Tobin Jones - http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/12366885945/
The legal indicators measure legally binding laws and regulations. They ONLY look at national laws, not state or local (at least not in 2014—this may be added in future years). They EXCLUDE sectoral laws on energy, coastal, marine and fisheries.
Why? Primarily because of resource and time constraints of reviewing so many laws. This does limit its ability somewhat to describe the legal protections in federal countries such as Australia, Mexico, India, etc.
However, it is still very useful to assess national laws.
Photo: Flickr/WorldFish - https://www.flickr.com/photos/theworldfishcenter/9703826469/
Why does the standard matter? Because we did not simply try to create the guidelines for good practice from nothing. These underwent extensive discussion by governments and stakeholder and were adopted by the UNEP Governing Council, so strong strategy for promoting change.
We are not trying to create a proxy for environmental governance. We are clear about our scope. The indicators have clear scoring guidance to limit subjectivity. Rigorous and iterative review methodology.
This information will be more accessible than it has ever been. It will allow for learning, provide for clear evidence for advocacy, and start conversations between advocates and governments. It will start the conversation around these results between the public and governments. (We’ll show you how)
KEY FINDINGS:
The top ten countries are: Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Hungary, Bulgaria, Panama, and Colombia.
Countries that are part of the legally binding Aarhus Convention have better legal protection for environmental democracy rights.
Wealth is important, but it’s not the only factor; several lower income countries are also leading the way.
Countries that have good laws tend to have more observable good practices
Laws on public participation lag behind; 79% of EDI countries have fair or poor public participation provisions.
Encouragingly, 73% of EDI countries are willing to hear environmental cases in court.
The best performing country in practice is the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Lithuania, Ireland, Chile, Israel, and Australia.
Sectoral laws not examined: marine, coastal, energy production and transport
Photo: Simone D. McCourtie / World Bank
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10816734@N03/3492673802/