Environmental NGOs urge general public to participate in decision-making

A number of environmental NGOs are encouraging the general public to claim in court their right to be consulted when, for example, trees are being cut down in their neighborhood for construction purposes. Andrei Isac, independent expert, told a news conference Monday that people should participate more actively in making environmental decisions and the government should harmonize the laws in accordance with the Aarhus Convention, Info-Prim Neo reports. “When a decision is made to cut down trees or build a structure in a forested area, the society's opinion should be consulted, but this rarely happens and people usually learn about this post-factum”, says Andrei Isac. Vladimir Garaba, the president of Chisinau's branch of the Moldovan Environmental Movement, observed that people had the right to know everything about environmental issues, like the quality of water and soil. “Local authorities of first and second level often do not know anything about the provisions of the Aarhus Convention. This is why it is proposed to create a network of Aarhus Information Centers in Chisinau, Balti, Cahul and Tiraspol with external financial support. A closer cooperation with the Ministry of Environment could help to implement this Convention”, said Vlad Garaba. Rodica Iordanov, executive director of EcoContact, said that the entire society should be involved in decision-making, but this never happens in rural areas. “Not only the authorities should be actively involved, but also the people, especially in villages, where the population is smaller and thus easier to be informed”, suggests Rodica Iordanov. Ilya Trombitki, executive director of EcoTIRAS, said that the environmental NGOs will supervise the implementation of the Aarhus Convention. He noted that a group of individuals were able to win an environmental case in court relying on the provisions of the Aarhus Convention. Adopted in 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus, the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, or simply the Aarhus Convention, establishes three key rights: the right of everyone to receive environmental information, the right to participate in environmental decision-making, and the right to challenge public decisions that have been made without respecting the two aforementioned rights.