3 - The Aarhus Convention

Summary

Chapter 3 examines the Aarhus Convention. The chapter begins by charting the events leading up to the Aarhus Convention and the Convention’s core provisions guaranteeing the right of access to environmental information. The chapter then explores how the Aarhus Convention conceptualises the right of access to environmental information, identifying how the Convention interprets the core substantive and procedural elements of the right. Using this analysis, the chapter identifies the extent to which the Aarhus Convention has influenced the development of the right in England, and its limited influence in the US and China. This is significant, as the influence (or lack thereof) of the Aarhus Convention demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, the Convention does not exert a normative influence over the core substantive elements of the right.