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The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental
Matters was adopted in 1998 and, to mark its 10 year anniversary,
the Parties to the Convention met in Riga from 11 to 13 June
2008.
A major outcome of the meeting was the adoption of a strategic
plan which will establish the future course of the Convention.
Citizens and civil society organisations must be involved
The plan emphasises that - 'the 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 organizations'.
Streamlining effective communication on the Convention
During the Riga meeting, the Parties to the Convention decided
that a communication strategy should be drawn up and agreement
was reached to set up an expert group to support this task.
UNECE, with the participation of the Green Spider Network
of Environmental Communicators, organised a roundtable in
Riga to discuss the future development of the communication
strategy for the Convention.
The future communication strategy is expected to -
- Find ways of presenting the Convention’s legal rights
and opportunities in everyday language, which can be understood
by national and local government officials responsible for
implementing the provisions of the Convention on-the-ground,
as well as by the broader public;
- Identify key messages and target audiences in order to
raise awareness about the Convention and build support for
its implementation;
- Provide a framework for adopting the most effective means
of communication, tailored to specific target audiences,
through appropriate media channels.
For more information about the Riga meeting - Click
Here
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