New round of discussions will be held at ECLAC’s headquarters on November 21-25, 2016.

(November 15, 2016) Delegates from the 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that adhered to the regional initiative for the effective application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in the region—which refers to access to environmental information, participation and justice—will continue negotiations in Santiago, Chile to reach a regional accord on these matters.

Government officials as well as representatives of civil society will meet from November 21 through November 25 in the Fifth meeting of the Negotiating Committee of the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Principle 10), organized by ECLAC and the government of Chile.

This gathering will be inaugurated on Monday, November 21 at 9 a.m. by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, and Pablo Badenier, Chile’s Minister of the Environment, with the presence of seven deputy ministers of the environment and other areas from Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

At the event negotiations will continue on the substantive aspects of the regional agreement, based on the fourth version of the text compiled by the Presiding Officers of the process (the Technical Secretariat of which is held by ECLAC), which includes the language proposals sent by countries during the Fourth meeting of the Negotiating Committee, which took place in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, on August 9-12, 2016.

On this occasion, the fifth meeting will include a high-level segment with the participation of the deputy ministers, and a High-level Roundtable on Environmental Justice and Access Rights for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized jointly with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), among other special activities.

In addition, there will be a launch of the book Society, rights and environment: International human rights standards applicable to access to information, participation and justice, prepared jointly by ECLAC and the Regional Office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as well as of an observatory on Environmental Democracy.