Keskkonnainfo kättesaadavusest ja otsustamises osalemise võimalustest Eestis

This 2004 report evaluates Estonia's compliance with the Aarhus Convention's principles of environmental information access, public participation, and judicial redress. It finds that while legal frameworks are largely in place and information on air quality and national environmental states is high-quality, actual implementation is inconsistent. Public participation is often reduced to a formal commentary process, and access to company-level pollution data is hindered by business secrecy. The report highlights a lack of targeted outreach to Russian-speaking minorities and recommends clearer procedures for emergency notifications and more substantive public involvement in early-stage decision-making.

• Estonia ratified the Aarhus Convention on June 6, 2001, and has implemented several laws to meet its requirements, including the Public Information Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Auditing Act.
• Access to environmental information is generally better than public participation in decision-making. High-quality and regular information is available for national environmental state reports and air quality monitoring, but access to company-level pollution data is difficult because officials often treat it as a business secret.
• Public participation in decision-making often functions as a commentary process before the final coordination phase, rather than a substantive influence on the early parameters of a project or policy.
• There is a significant gap in accessibility for ethnic minorities; specifically, there are no separate consultation activities for Russian-speaking populations, and guidance materials on access principles are not translated into Russian.
• The Estonian judicial system recognizes the right of environmental organizations to appeal decisions in the public interest, as demonstrated by cases involving the restructuring of shale oil energy and the Jämejala park detail plan.
• While environmental education is mandatory in schools via the national curriculum, the state does not provide funding for the core costs of NGOs, and free legal aid for the public in general interest environmental cases is provided by NGOs (like ELF) using foreign funds rather than state money.
• Information regarding emergencies is well-covered by the media, but there is no legal obligation to conduct and publish studies on the long-term health and environmental impacts following an accident.

APA

Poltimäe, H., Kuldna, P., Merisaar, M., & Kolk, T. (2004). Keskkonnainfo kättesaadavusest ja otsustamises osalemise võimalustest Eestis. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4374.pdf

Chicago

Poltimäe, Helen, Piret Kuldna, Maret Merisaar, and Tim Kolk. Keskkonnainfo kättesaadavusest ja otsustamises osalemise võimalustest Eestis. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2004. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4374.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Poltimäe |first1=Helen |last2=Kuldna |first2=Piret |last3=Merisaar |first3=Maret |last4=Kolk |first4=Tim |title=Keskkonnainfo kättesaadavusest ja otsustamises osalemise võimalustest Eestis |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=2004 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4374.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{poltime2004keskkonnainfo, author = {Poltimäe, Helen and Kuldna, Piret and Merisaar, Maret and Kolk, Tim}, title = {{Keskkonnainfo kättesaadavusest ja otsustamises osalemise võimalustest Eestis}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2004}, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4374.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }