UNEP Council Agrees to Create Access Policy
The Governing Council of the United Nations Environmental Programme Feb. 22 agreed to create an access to information policy and increase participation of stakeholders and civil society. The draft...
View ArticleReforming FOI Laws in Asia Urged to Help Environment
Asian countries need to improve their freedom of information laws as one component of providing better environmental information to the public, according to a statement issued May 1 from a conference...
View ArticleUN Panel Includes RTI, Better Data as Development Goals
A high-level panel charged by the United Nations with drafting a post-2015 development agenda has included the better use of data and right to information in its report. Under Goal 10, “Ensure Good...
View ArticleGTI Critiques Access Proposal by Climate Change Fund
The Global Transparency Initiative has urged the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an international lending body, to narrow the exemptions in a proposed access to information policy. The GCF, which promotes...
View ArticleIndonesian Minister Denies Access to Concession Maps
Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya has determined that “concession maps” showing where companies have logging and agricultural rights are not publicly disclosable. Environmental...
View ArticleGreen Climate Fund Urged to Fix Draft Information Plan
Revisions are needed in the draft policy on information disclosure about to be considered by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), according to the Global Transparency Initiative. The GCF is an international...
View ArticleWikiLeaks Again Discloses Trade Talk Documents
WikiLeaks on Jan. 15 for the second in several months released secret documents on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks, this time concerning the environment. Disclosed were the draft text for the...
View ArticleATI Used in Brazil to Get Access to Water
This report by Article 19 appears on the Article 19 website here. Freedom of expression and information are key in the battle to fight poverty and improve people’s lives. The availability and...
View ArticleFreedom of Information in Ireland: changing of the guard
By Tony Lowes Lowes is a Director of Friends of the Irish Environment In what is a serious blow to Freedom of Information in Ireland, the newly appointed Information Commission and Ombudsman Peter...
View ArticleUNEP Delays Producing Access to Information Policy
The United Nations Environment Programme has still not produced an access to information policy requested by the Governing Council a year ago. Instead, an “interim” access policy will begin in April,...
View ArticleRio Declaration Follow-Up Covers Access, Participation
Efforts are advancing to clarify what access rights should look like in the context of the environment and development in Latin America and the Caribbean. A committee has developed a list of concepts...
View ArticleUNEP to Establish Pilot Information Disclosure Policy
The United Nations Environmental Programme is about to create a one-year “pilot” informational disclosure policy. An official announcement is expected soon. An advance copy of the eight-page policy,...
View ArticleWRI Criticizes UNEP Pilot Access to Information Policy
The pilot access to information policy recently issued by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) “falls far short of providing true transparency,” according to the World Resources...
View ArticleDisclosure Policy Not on Agenda for Climate Fund
Creation of a permanent information disclosure policy is not on the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the Global Climate Fund board. “This was not surprising, giving the long list of issues already on...
View ArticleTanzanian Parliament Orders Arrest of 2 Company Officials
Two top officials at Tanzania’s state-owned oil agency were arrested Nov. 3 on charges of failing to give parliament the oil and gas contracts the government signed with foreign and local investors,...
View ArticleLatin American Countries to Write Green Access Standards
A regional agreement on access to information in the environmental context for Latin America and the Caribbean will be negotiated, participants at a Nov. 9 at a meeting in Santiago, Chile, decided....
View ArticleNew Tool Examines Jamaica’s Development Projects
By Carole Excell and Stephanie Ratte The authors work for World Resources Institute. Excell is Project Director of WRI’s Access Initiative. Ratte is Project Coordinator/Research Analyst with the...
View ArticleSecrecy Option Proposed for Bank Forest Carbon Fund
The World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Fund is aiming to allow confidential treatment for the terms under which countries would receive payments for conserving forests. The policy is still under...
View ArticleUNEP Seeks Public Comments On Pilot Phase Access Policy
The United Nations Environmental Programme is inviting comments on its access to information policy now in a “pilot phase.” On June 6, 2014, UNEP announced the policy and said it would be reviewed by...
View ArticleDraft Issued For Latin American Environmental ATI
Environmental activists say they are pleased with the preliminary document of the regional agreement for Latin America and the Caribbean on the rights of access to information, participation and...
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