Environmental Law and Policy in the EU - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The anthropocentric objective of the Aarhus Convention detailed in Article 1 links the procedural right of public participation in environmental decision-making to a substantive human right to live in an adequate environment. It is crucial to discern the social significance of public participation and the vested interest of the public in environmental decision-making, due to the holistic interpretation of the environment as encompassing environmental, social, and economic dimensions, embodied in the three-pillared approach of sustainable development.

The consensus that “environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens at the relevant level” reflected in Article 10 of the Rio Declaration, places particular emphasis on the role of public participation in environmental law and policy. Failures in the technocratic scientific assessment such as the BSE crisis resulted in ingrowing disillusionment with the autonomous traditional bureaucracy of environmental regulation by the state based on rational elitist’ decision-making, instigating a shift from an emphasis on technical expertise to public decision-making demonstrated by a trend towards ‘proceduralisation’ of environmental decision regulation, bringing decisions ‘closer to the people.’

This was recognized through the enactment of the Aarhus Convention hailed as the most significant international innovation in this area. Yet, the Convention does not define the concept of public participation and leaves the nature and rationale for public decision-making open ended propounding a range of motivations for public participation in the preamble. Holder and Lee assert that the clearest and strongest link that emerges is with improving environmental protection manifested in the Aarhus Convention through its focus on a key role for interest groups in the participatory process.

In evaluating how public participation in decision-making contributes to environmental law and policy in the EU, this paper will be divided into three parts: evaluation of the rationales for public participation in decision-making; examination of the participatory mechanisms incorporating public participation into decision-making; and the manifestation of public participation in the EU to ascertain its contribution in reality to environmental law. ...Download file to see next pages Read More