What does the Aarhus Convention provide for?

International environmental treaties in most cases aim at protecting certain aspects of the environment, such as species, habitats, water or climate.

The Aarhus Convention is different. It does not directly protect the environment or certain elements of it in the way of defining thresholds, permits or protected areas.

The approach of the Aarhus Convention is to protect the environment by giving procedural rights to the public to do so. In other words: The Aarhus Convention gives the public the right to a healthy environment. At the same time, it also serves as a tool towards more transparent and democratic decision-making by means, for example, of the concerned public being consulted when a decision influencing the environment if being made by the public authorities .

Therefore, a close interrelationship exists between the Aarhus Convention and human rights. Whereas human rights aim at protecting individuals by safeguarding personal rights by means of legal procedures, frameworks or enforcement rules, the Aarhus Convention provides similar rights to the public with regard to environmental decision-making. One of the core ideas behind the Convention is that environment is not the property of governments, but of the people. Thus the people shall have access to information, participation and justice when the environment is concerned. These represent the three "pillars" of the Convention.

Further information on the latest guidelines on access to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters are available on the Malta Environment and Planning Authority website (www.mepa.org.mt).