European governments must decide whether environmental democracy is a key value for the twenty-first century

The document highlights the critical state of environmental democracy, urging the 47 state parties of the Aarhus Convention to uphold the authority of its compliance committee, prioritize public welfare over corporate profit, and promote environmental rights globally.

• The Aarhus Convention, which establishes enforceable rights to information, public participation, and justice in environmental matters, faces an existential moment as some Western European states have become wary of the agreement and 'illiberal democracies' emerge within Europe.
• The EU Commission previously proposed that member states act collectively to reject findings from the Aarhus Convention's compliance committee regarding insufficient access to justice within the EU, threatening the credibility of the independent body.
• Industry lobbyists in areas such as chemicals regulation and climate policy are working to undermine the precautionary principle and science-based policy, necessitating a rights-based approach to prevent business interests from overriding citizen rights.
• Environmental activists and NGOs are facing increasing violence and judicial attacks globally, with specific mentions of the assassination of Berta Caceres in Honduras and legal tools used to silence activists in Russia, India, and the United States.

APA

Duyck, S. (2017). European governments must decide whether environmental democracy is a key value for the twenty-first century. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/european-governments-must-decide-whether-environmental-democracy-key-value-twenty-first-century/

Chicago

Duyck, Sébastien. European governments must decide whether environmental democracy is a key value for the twenty-first century. Center for International Environmental Law, 2017. https://www.ciel.org/european-governments-must-decide-whether-environmental-democracy-key-value-twenty-first-century/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Duyck |first1=Sébastien |title=European governments must decide whether environmental democracy is a key value for the twenty-first century |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=8 September 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/european-governments-must-decide-whether-environmental-democracy-key-value-twenty-first-century/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{duyck2017european, author = {Duyck, Sébastien}, title = {{European governments must decide whether environmental democracy is a key value for the twenty-first century}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ciel.org/european-governments-must-decide-whether-environmental-democracy-key-value-twenty-first-century/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }