Without information about the state of the environment, it is impossible to take measures to improve the situation. Forecasts, like those about floods and droughts, cannot be made. Long-term plans and predictions cannot be made. That’s why the access to environmental information is very important, doctor of biology Ilia Trombitski, executive director of the Eco-TIRAS International Environmental Association of River Keepers.
In a news conference at IPN, Ilia Trombitski reminded that the Republic of Moldova 20 years ago ratified the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters that was signed in the Danish city of Aarhus in 1998 and is designed to ensure democracy in the environmental sector.
As Moldova is a party to the Convention, all the donors expect that the information needed for the implemented projects will be furnished free by the governmental agencies. However, money has been asked for this since the declaring of independence. The legislation is made so that to respect it, one should pay tens of thousands of dollars for access to information that is already available, stated Ilia Trombitski.
“If you adopt policies and decisions without knowing the situation, it is very difficult. Today, we face a problem as to the obtaining, keeping and offering of information. Regrettably, not for the first time in our work, we faced the situation when we needed information possessed by the state,” said the executive director of the Eco-TIRAS International Environmental Association of River Keepers.
The doctor of biology related a case of 2008, when the Association asked for information about the leasing out of forests from a state-owned enterprise. But this information wasn’t provided. After going to court, this ordered that the information should be furnished. But this wasn’t done. Eco-TIRAS sent a message to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, over the non-observance by the Republic of Moldova of the Convention’s provisions concerning the access to environmental information. As a result of the examination, in 2011, the parties adopted recommendations for Moldova. The Government was requested to adopt and put into practice a national plan for enforcing the Convention. The Government accepted, but did practically nothing. In another case, the Association asked for information about the quantity of water for particular periods and other data, while the State Hydrometeorological Service responded that the provision of such data costs US$35,000.
Currently, Eco-TIRAS, in the framework of a joint project with the Czech NGO “Arnika”, is preparing an alternative report on the fulfillment of Moldova’s obligations deriving from the Convention, which will be presented in the meeting of the parties to the Aarhus Convention in Tbilisi, Georgia, in October 2021,” noted Ilia Trombitski.
“Arnika” president Martin Skalski said it is regrettable that the Republic of Moldova, being one of the signatories of the Convention, experiences such a situation. It is regrettable that the state does not present reports with official information. The alternative report comes to present the information that is absent at the official level.
