4 July 2014: The fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP 5) to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), the second Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOPP 2) on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs), and their joint high-level segment convened in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from 30 June-4 July 2014.

Aarhus Convention MOP 5 convened from 30 June-1 July 2014, and addressed substantive agenda items on the three pillars of the Convention, including the right of access to information (first pillar), public participation in decision-making (PPDM) (second pillar) and access to justice (third pillar), as well as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and agenda items on procedures and mechanisms facilitating the implementation of the Convention, promotion of the Convention and relevant developments and interlinkages, and the programme of work and operation of the Convention. MOP 5 adopted 23 decisions as well as other outcomes during the session.

The joint high-level segment convened on 2 July, and included two thematic panels on the right to information and environmental democracy and the right to information and social media, and adopted the Maastricht Declaration, which addresses information in the age of knowledge, environmental democracy for all and achieving “the future we want.”

PRTR Protocol MOPP 2 convened from 3-4 July, and addressed promotion of the Protocol and capacity building, and procedures and mechanisms facilitating the implementation of the Protocol and the programme of work and operation of the Protocol. MOPP 2 adopted four decisions as well as other outcomes throughout the session.

In addition the 45th meeting of the Convention Compliance Committee, the 34th meeting of the Convention Bureau, the 18th meeting of the Working Group of the Parties to the Convention, the seventh meeting of the Protocol Bureau, and the third meeting of the Protocol Compliance Committee took place. [IISD RS Meeting Coverage]