TAI Training:

Access to Information

Four Pillars

Acc

ess

to

Just

ice

Acc

ess

to

Info

rmat

ion

Pu

blic

P

arti

cip

atio

n

Cap

acit

y B

uild

ing

Access to InformationAccess to Information

Gives people the tools to participate

Allows for informed decision-making

Promotes transparency

Valuing Access to InformationValuing Access to Information

Access to Information IndicatorsAccess to Information Indicators

What is the quality of the information?

Are there provisions, regulations or rules?

What

information is

available?

Is it easy to

access

information?

Are there information systems?

Is disclosure timely?

Is it affordable?

Valuing Indicators: LawValuing Indicators: Law9. To what extend does the law support public access to comprehensive information about the environmental area concerned in the selected case?

Valuing Indicators: Effort Valuing Indicators: Effort 24.How complete, relevant, and accurate were responses to requests for information in the selected case?

Valuing Indicators: EffectivenessValuing Indicators: Effectiveness43. In the selected case, to what extend did stakeholders have the skills and knowledge to obtain the information they needed?

TAI Assessment StructureTAI Assessment Structure

Constitutional Law

Case Studies

Access to Information:

27 indicators

Public Participation:31 indicators

Access to Justice:

33 indicators

6 constitutional law indicators applied once per assessment

+General Law

16 general law indicators applied once per assessment

+

Capacity Building:

12 capacity building

indicators applied

once per assessment

Access to Information Case Studies

Emergencies

Air QualityMonitoring

Facility Reporting

Policy-Level Decision

Regulatory-LevelDecision

Project-LevelDecision

Access to Information

Public Participation

Environmental Harm

Water QualityMonitoring

State of EnviroReports

Non-Compliance

Access to Justice

Access to Information

Public Participation

Access to Information Case Studies

Poverty Case StudiesPoverty Case Studies

Captures the concerns of the poor

Two (2) case studies must use the poverty indictors

Poverty-sensitized indicators

Number of Case StudiesNumber of Case Studies

Prescriptive Case Types

Case Types at Researchers’

Discretion

Total Minimum

Cases

Access to Information 4 4 8

Public Participation 3 3 6

Access to Justice 3 1 4

TOTALS 10 8 18

Choosing Priority Sectors

Economically Significant

• Significant contributor to GDP

• Large employer

• Unique to your country

Environmentally or Socially Significant

Representative

• Significant environmental

impacts

• Significant health impacts

• Impact vulnerable populations

• Should reflect average

practice• If it is NOT an average case,

then this must be noted in the assessment

Sample Priority Sectors

IMPORTANT SECTORS Water and

sanitation Extractive

Industries Biodiversity

Forestry Agriculture Poverty

Electricity Tourism Women

Manufacturing Services Children and Youth

Government Fisheries Minorities

Chemicals Transport Health

Toxics Indigenous Peoples

Trade

Globalization Genetically Modified Organisms

Illegal immigrants

Large Scale Environmental Emergency

Guidelines for Case Selection

CASE STUDIES SHOULD INVOLVE MEASURABLE IMPACTS ON:

Human Populations

Representative Recent

Large Scale Environmental Emergency

CASE STUDIES SHOULD ALSO:

Environment Biodiversity

Involve response by national authorities

Small Scale Environmental Emergency

Guidelines for Case Selection

CASE STUDIES SHOULD INVOLVE MEASURABLE IMPACTS ON:

Human Populations

Representative Recent

Small Scale Environmental Emergency (optional)

CASE STUDIES SHOULD ALSO:

Environment Biodiversity

Involve response by local authorities

Involve a private facility

Air Quality Monitoring

Guidelines for Case Selection

Be in an urban area

Representative

Air Quality Monitoring System

CASE STUDIES SHOULD:

Water Quality Monitoring

Guidelines for Case Selection

Be operated by the government

Representative

Water Quality Monitoring System

CASE STUDIES SHOULD:

Facilities Level Reporting

Guidelines for Case Selection

Be from a “priority” sector

Perform at least one type of reporting

Representative

Industrial Facilities

Recent Reporting

CASE STUDIES SHOULD:

Have at least 10 employees

State of the Environment Report

Guidelines for Case Selection

A report or a series of reports

Published in electronic or paper form

Supported by numerical data

State of the Environment Report

Country-wide or regional

What are State of the Environment Reports?

Deals with environment and natural resource

issues

Useful to policy-makers or

development planners

Case study should be:

Recent