Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies

The document advocates for enhancing public participation in climate policies by leveraging international legal instruments like the Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement. It identifies specific entry points at COP-25—including Article 6 market mechanisms, the Lima Work Programme on Gender, and the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform—where procedural rights and safeguards for environmental defenders should be strengthened. It further suggests using the transparency framework's interactive dialogues to review how public participation improves national climate ambition.

• Seventy-one UNFCCC parties across Europe, Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean have committed to promoting public access to information, participation, and justice in environmental policies through the Aarhus Convention or the Escazú Agreement.
• The Escazú Agreement, adopted by 24 UNFCCC Parties from Latin America and the Caribbean, is the first legal instrument to establish a framework for the effective protection of environmental defenders.
• To avoid the failures of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the rules for Article 6 market mechanisms must include social and environmental safeguards, meaningful stakeholder consultation including the free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous peoples, and an independent grievance mechanism for redress.
• The Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform is highlighted as a unique body that enables indigenous representatives and governmental delegates to participate in proceedings on an equal footing, potentially reversing a two-decade trend of ignoring traditional knowledge and collective rights.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2019). Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_COP25_final.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies. 2019. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_COP25_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies |date=November 2019 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_COP25_final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2019promoting, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Promoting Public Participation in Climate Policies}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PromotingParticipation_EntryPoints_COP25_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }