Fourth Round of Negotiations for Agreement on the Application of Principle 10 in Environmental Matters Will Be Held in Dominican Republic

Delegates from the countries that signed the declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development –regarding access to information, public participation and justice in environmental matters- will meet in the Dominican Republic on August 9-12, 2016 to continue negotiating a regional agreement on these subjects.

The Fourth Meeting of the Negotiating Committee on the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place in Santo Domingo, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of the Dominican Republic, represented by its Foreign Affairs Ministry (MIREX) and the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry.

The aim of this meeting is to continue negotiating the substantive aspects of the regional agreement on the basis of the third version of the text that was compiled by the Committee’s Presiding Officers that integrates the countries’ text proposals, according to the agreement reached at the third meeting of the committee, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on April 5-8, 2016.

The meeting will be opened on Tuesday, August 9 at 09:30 a.m. by Dominican Republic’s  Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Bautista Rojas Gómez, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrés Navarro García, ECLAC’s authorities, and representatives from the Committee’s Presiding Officers and from the public.

All the relevant information on the meeting, which will be broadcasted live through internet,  is already available at the Web site ://negociacionp10.cepal.org/4/en.

Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development seeks to ensure that every person has access to information, participates in decision-making and can access justice in environmental matters, with the aim of guaranteeing the right to a healthy and sustainable environment for present and future generations.

ECLAC holds the technical secretariat of the process for negotiating a regional agreement on these subjects. The talks are expected to conclude by December 2016.

More information:

• Web site of Fourth Meeting of the Negotiating Committee on the Regional Agreement on Principle 10.
• Live broadcast.
• Op-ed: More Citizenship for Sustainable Development.
• Infographic: Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.
• General information on Principle 10.

What: Fourth Meeting of the Negotiating Committee on the Regional Agreement on Principle 10.

Who:

• Authorities from the Government of the Dominican Republic.
• Authorities from ECLAC.
• Delegates from the countries that signed the declaration on the application of Principle 10, representatives from the Committee’s Presiding Officers and from the public.

When: From Tuesday 9 to Friday 12 August 2016.

Opening session: Tuesday 9 August, 09:30 a.m., with the participation of:

• Bautista Rojas, Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic.
• Joseluis Samaniego, Chief of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division of ECLAC.
• Dolores María Duverges, Under-Secretary for Planning and Environmental Land Management of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Argentina, representing the Presiding Officers.
• Natalia Gómez and Euren Cuevas, representatives of the public.
• Andrés Navarro, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic.

Where: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Crowne Plaza Hotel Santo Domingo, George Washington Ave., 218).