The Aarhus Clearinghouse Progress Report November 2005 Michael

The Aarhus Clearinghouse Progress Report November 2005 Michael Stanley-Jones Environmental Information Management Officer Aarhus Convention Secretariat UN Economic Commission for Europe

Clearinghouse’s Renewed Mandate DECISION II/3 On Electronic Information Tools and the Clearing-house Mechanism adopted in Almaty at Second Meeting of the Parties (May 2005) “Welcoming … the establishment of a clearinghouse mechanism and the launch of the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy”

In Almaty, the Meeting of the Parties… • Invites Parties, Signatories and other interested States to develop a national node of the clearing-house mechanism with legal and practical information on issues related to the Convention at national level, linked to the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy,

… and invites other stakeholders to submit relevant information to the clearing house

3. Decides to extend the mandate of the Task Force on Electronic Information Tools with the following programme of work:

(d) Maintenance and further development of the clearing-house mechanism, including development of guidance materials and a programme of training workshops in support of capacity building for the national nodes of the clearing house while avoiding duplication of work

The Clearinghouse today… I. III. Designated National Nodes Resource Directory Usage

“ 17 ” Aarhus CH national nodes have so far been designated

The Resource Directory holds 726 separate entries. Each entry is ‘tagged’ with one or more thematic attribute: Access to Information Public participation Electronic Tools Access to Justice PRTRs Convention Compliance Strategic Decision-making GMOs 496 330 225 174 162 112 109 81

Resources entries by activity: Research 363 Legislation 295 Projects 265 Policy 195 Procedures 183

Source of entries by organizational type: NGOs Intergovernmental organizations Government Academia 358 222 179 72

Leaders’ entries among Parties and Signatories United Kingdom + European Commission + Kyrgyzstan + Armenia, Georgia + Kazakhstan +/ Azerbaijan Germany + Belarus +, Ireland +, Ukraine Bulgaria +, Italy + Republic of Moldova +, Switzerland Norway, Tajikistan +/ Romania, Spain, FYR Macedonia * each — — — + designated Aarhus website All sources 63 30 19 17 16 14 11 10 * 9* 8* 7* 6 *______ / not operational

UK entries by attribute Access to Information — Public participation — Electronic Tools — Access to Justice — PRTRs — Convention Compliance — Strategic Decision-making— GMOs — 39 29 12 11 6 8 4 3

Tajikistan entries by attribute Access to Information — Public participation — Electronic Tools — Access to Justice — PRTRs — Convention Compliance — Strategic Decision-making— GMOs — 4 4 1 1 0 No. of attributes 12 > 7 No. of entries

Growth in Visits 2004

Visits 2005 to date

Next Steps underway… ü ü Ongoing outreach with resource providers Fresh News features National node capacity building Content management guidance Help page (for users) Upgrade web calendar of principle 10 related events ü Clearinghouse information exchange ü Integration of capacity building information

Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy http: //aarhusclearinghouse. unece. org http: //aarhusclearinghouse. org