23 October 2015: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a guide to help countries improve their implementation of Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, on access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters. UNEP describes the guide as “a milestone for both environmental law and sustainable development.” The publication was launched alongside the Eye on Earth Summit in early October, and later made available online.

The guide, titled ‘Putting Rio Principle 10 into Action,’ was written by Stephen Stec for and on behalf of UNEP and The World Resources Institute (WRI). It aims to support governments, civil society, legal professionals, implementing authorities and others with regard to applying Rio Principle 10, as well as the UNEP Bali Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Bali Guidelines).

The 26 Bali Guidelines were adopted by UNEP’s Governing Council in 2010.

The publication includes examples of good practice in legislation and implementation with regard to the Bali Guidelines, “realizing the provisions of Principle 10 in practice,” and can be used to assist States in undertaking their own gap analysis of national legislation.

Two previous drafts of the implementation guide were made publicly available for comment, up to June 2015.

The project to draft the implementation guide is part of a multi-year umbrella project involving UNEP, the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) as partners to promote the implementation of the Bali Guidelines. The guide was developed with financial assistance from the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) and the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment.

Eye on Earth held its second summit on 6-8 October 2015, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. [Publication: Putting Rio Principle 10 into Action: An Implementation Guide for the UNEP Bali Guidelines for the Development of National Legislation on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters] [UNEP Press Release] [Draft version of Implementation Guide] [Bali Guidelines] [IISD RS Coverage of EoE Summit]