Third Round of Negotiations for Agreement on the Application of Principle 10 in Environmental Matters Will Be Held in Uruguay

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 Uruguay on April 5-8, 2016 to continue negotiating a regional agreement on these subjects.

The Third 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 Montevideo, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Government of Uruguay.

The aim of this meeting is to continue negotiating the substantive aspects of the regional agreement on the basis of the second 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 second meeting of the committee, held in Panama City on October 27-29, 2015.

The meeting will be opened on Tuesday, April 5 at 09:00 a.m. by Uruguay’s Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment Minister, Eneida De León, the Undersecretary for Foreign Relations, José Luis Cancela, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena; 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/3/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 at the latest.

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

Who:

• 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.

Opening session (Tuesday 5 April, 09:00 a.m.):

• Eneida De León, Minister for Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment.
• José Luis Cancela, Undersecretary for Foreign Relations of Uruguay.
• Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC.

When: From Tuesday 5 to Friday 8 April 2016.

Where: Montevideo, Uruguay (Sheraton Hotel Montevideo, Victor Soliño 349, Punta Carretas).