AKEL on the right of access to environmental information

 

Statement by the Environmental Affairs Bureau of AKEL

Today the press wrote that the Department of Forestry submitted to the Department of Environment the environmental impact study on the Akamas Peninsula Sustainable Development Plan, stressing that anyone interested can be informed about its content by visiting the offices of the competent Department for inspection at specific times. This practice complicates instead of facilitating citizens’ access to environmental information, a right guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, but to our national legislation as well.

As the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development states on its website, “citizens have the right to access information, including environmental information, and the government has a responsibility to support the public’s interest by facilitating such access.” We expect from the competent Ministry and the Departments under it to implement in practice what they preach. It is, after all, an obligation of the member states of the Aarhus Convention to ensure and respect these rights.