The Role of Environmental NGOs: Russian Challenges, American Lessons Proceedings of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
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22 Public Participation in Environmentally Sound Decision-Making: Legal Aspects
22 Public Participation in Environmentally Sound Decision-Making: Legal Aspects
Pages 179-190
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From page 179... ...
The Institute of Environmental Law, hereinafter called Ecojuris, is a professional human rights organization. Ecojuris was the first in our country to start protecting environmental rights of citizens and nongovernmental organizations in practice, including the right to participate in the decisionmaking process.
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From page 180... ...
This principle emerges from the following complex of articles of the Constitution and other laws: · Article 42: "Everyone shall have the right to a favorable environment..." · Part 1 of Article 20: "Everyone shall have the right to life." · Part 1 of Article 9: "Land and other natural resources shall be utilized and protected in the Russian Federation as the basis of life and activity of the people living on the concerned territory." · Article 92 of the Law "On Protection of the Natural Environment": "Everyone shall have the right to life in the most favorable environmental conditions."
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From page 181... ...
We are successfully using these principles to protect the environmental rights of citizens and nongovernment organizations as well as to protect rights in related fields, such as the right to information, to participation in managing state affairs, and to legal protection. Ecojuris, in close cooperation with an organization it created, the Network of Russian Public Interest Environmental Lawyers, protects public interests, using the possibilities provided by the environmental legislation.
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From page 182... ...
5. Interests of citizens, nongovernmental organizations, and other persons may be represented in a court as well as in extrajuridical examinations of disputes by lawyers and other persons acting with a power of attorney in the traditional way (Chapter 5 of the Civil Procedural Code and Article 185 of the Russian Federation Civil Code)
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From page 183... ...
A relatively fresh example from the environmental sphere can be presented. The new Federal Law "On Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-being" was adopted in 1999, replacing the previous one with the same title (1991~.
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From page 184... ...
In spite of the absence of general unified mechanisms of participation in making decisions that can affect the environment and natural resources, citizens, nongovernmental organizations, and other strata of our society have "compensatory mechanisms" for such participation. This is public participation in evaluating the effect on the environment (EKE)
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From page 185... ...
· A mailing list of appropriate information to be sent out to the public at all stages of EKE. The principle of public participation in the environmental examination has been secured in Article 3 of the Federal Law "On the Environmental Examination" mentioned above.
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From page 186... ...
results of citizen and public organization discussions organized by local government concerning the subject of the state environmental examination. In this case, the law considers the power of local government to organize public discussions, polls, and referenda among the population on economic activity as a power in the sphere of the environmental examination (Part 2 of Article 9~.
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From page 187... ...
We hold training courses for environmental lawyers. We are currently carrying out a lawyers' training program on protecting national minorities' rights for traditional uses of natural resources.
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From page 188... ...
Verbal inquiries center largely around citizens' environmental rights in populated areas, including unlawful building, destruction of trees, infringement of sanitary and epidemiological norms, and neglect of environmental assessment and examination. Deforestation and unlawful construction in protected wetlands are common.
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From page 189... ...
Consequently, so-called "compensatory" mechanisms should have been put into operation. This would imply, that in accordance with the federal Law "On the Environmental Examination," the draft of this edict as well as the draft of the corresponding government decree adopted on the base of this edict should have undergone state examination with participation of the public.
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