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It is with great pleasure and
honour that I welcome you to today’s conference on “Access to environmental
justice and the protection of environmental defenders” that is coorganised by
our Ministry, the Department of Environment in particular, the Commissioner
for the Environment, the Law Department of the University of Cyprus, and the
Federation of Environmental Organisations of Cyprus.
I wish to extend my warmest
thanks to Mr Forst and his team for accepting our invitation to conduct this
country visit and for your willingness to contribute to our effort in raising
awareness on the protection of Environmental Defenders and in enhancing the
implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Cyprus in general.
The scope of today’s Conference
is for the Special Rapporteur of Environmental Defenders to present his newly
established mandate to the public and for the local experts to illustrate
aspects of accessing rights to environmental justice as provided by the
Aarhus Convention, in an effort to inform all relevant stakeholders.
Our invitation to Mr Forst was
targeted towards raising awareness, building capacities and cooperation among
authorities and the public as regards defending the environment, in line with
provisions of the Aarhus Convention, which is a priority for our Ministry. We
acknowledge that enhancing the public’s ability to participate and voice
their views and concerns about their environment helps enforce environmental
law and therefore reinforces our efforts towards the protection of the
environment, which is a top priority for the Republic of Cyprus, as clearly
stated in the programme of governance of the President of the Republic, Mr
Nikos Christodoulides.
Cyprus has ratified the Aarhus
Convention and as the competent authority for implementing the provisions of
the Convention, we are continuing significant efforts in transposing and
implementing them in our national legislation and procedures in order to safeguard
the rights for everyone to a safe and healthy environment. The government has
already provided tools enabling access to environmental information and is
investing in making environmental data even more accessible by modernising
our data gathering, databases and data sharing systems.
Public participation has been
improved in a very positive way in our environmental decision-making
practices, mainly through the deployment of a combination of online tools,
participation in committees and mandatory public presentation of projects.
All these facilitate the active, efficient and timely involvement of the
public in the planning and decision-making stages, and allows the
environmental authority to make more informed decisions. Efforts have been
also made to ensure access to justice for environmental matters and to a
certain extent, the public has managed to practice their rights when it was
necessary.
However, being aware that there
is still room for improvement, we are using this conference as a starting
point for collaboration towards progress.
More specifically, your
presence here, Mr Forst, represents a combined effort to enhance especially
the 3rd pillar of the Convention, access to justice for environmental matters
and to protect environmental defenders exercising their rights according to the
Aarhus Convention by eliminating any possibility of unfair treatment against
them. This effort not only reinforces our shared values and goals, but also
propels us towards a better and more effective implementation of the
provisions of the Convention.
As a final remark and in my
capacity as the Minister of Environment, I openly state our willingness to
support the work of the Special Rapporteur as well as cooperate with him and
all our local stakeholders with a goal to safeguard that Cypriots can effectively
practice their rights to defend the environment.
Thank you all for your presence
here today and I wish you fruitful deliberations.
(ΕΝ/GS/NZ)
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