Executive summary and overview
(1,702 KB)
This standalone piece provides an expanded executive summary and overview of the full report. Features "Access Scorecards" for information, participation, and justice.

Executive summary in Japanese
(467 KB)

Executive summary in Korean
(167 KB)

Front matter
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Contents, National Assessment teams, acknowledgments, foreword

Executive summary
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In 1992, 178 governments committed to the idea that every person should have access to information about the environment, opportunities to participate in decision-making processes affecting the environment, and access to redress and remedy.

Chapter 1. Introduction
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This report assesses progress made by selected countries to date in achieving the goals laid out in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration.

Chapter 2. The methodological framework
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Describes the overall structure of the framework; how indicators of performance were scored, clustered, and summarized across countries; lessons learned about weaknesses in the methodology and its initial application; and suggestion for improvement.

Chapter 3. Opening the door: Access to information
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Examines the extent to which countries have made progress since the 1992 Rio Summit in providing access to information.

Chapter 4. Windows of opportunity: Access to participation
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Examines a range of experiences with public participation in decisions about national policies, state or local planning, and specific projects to illustrate how laws and policies guarantee -- and governments promote -- meaningful public participation.

Chapter 5. Reinforcing the structure: Access to justice
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When access to information is lacking or access to participation has been denied, the law must provide the opportunity for affected individuals and groups to seek redress to ensure that they have access to information and participation.

Chapter 6. Building a future: Capacity for public participation
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A national system for public participation can generate meaningful environmental outcomes -- better performance and better decisions -- only if both the government and the public have the knowledge and the capacity to make use of it.

Chapter 7. Conclusions and recommendations
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Highlights strengths and weaknesses of national public participation systems; describes common factors that appear to influence national performance; puts forth an agenda to promote accelerated implementation of Principle 10 at the national level.

Appendices
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Selection of emergency cases; Examples of initiatives to develop public access to information about industrial facilities; Laws and voluntary approaches to facility reporting in place in the pilot countries.

Bibliography
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National reports and other sources.

End matter
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About the authors and World Resources Institute