Landmark Regional Environmental Agreement achieved

March 13, 2018

Kishan Kumarsingh, Head Multilateral Environmental Agreements Unit at the meeting on adoption of the Agreement

    The Ministry of Planning and Development represented Trinidad and Tobago in negotiations on the rights of access to environmental information, access to justice in environmental matters, and public participation in environmental decision-making, which lead to an unprecedented legal regional agreement. The Agreement was approved on Sunday, March 4th, 2018 in San Jose, Costa Rica, after more than six (6) years of intense meetings and negotiation. This move marks the Caribbean’s and Latin America’s first legally binding environmental democracy agreement.

    The adopted Agreement is the completion of a process that was launched at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, with the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Principle 10 seeks to ensure that every person has access to information, can participate in the decision-making process and has access to justice in environmental matters with the aim of safeguarding the right to a healthy and sustainable environment for present and future generations.  

    Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís in his closing comments indicated that it is necessary to bring people into environment-related decisions, making them participants in development, since “the right to a healthy environment is a human right.” He also highlighted the legal relevance of the agreement and of “environmental democracy” as a new legal term that implies the participation of all in the protection of the environment.These rights ensure both that the environmental problems affecting disadvantaged groups and vulnerable communities are adequately addressed, and those policy decisions affecting the environment take into consideration the needs and views of those groups.

     For Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the agreement is of distinct significance as it will also serve as a key instrument in ensuring that climate change adaptation and resilience-building strategies being developed are done so in a transparent and participatory manner, consistent with the Paris Agreement and relevant issues regarding climate justice.

    Kishan Kumarsingh, Head, Multilateral Environmental Agreements at the Ministry of Planning and Development participated actively in the negotiations serving on the committee of Presiding Officers which managed the negotiations, as well as co-chairing negotiations on key articles of the Agreement. The Agreement aligns with the goals of Vision2030 National Strategy, Theme V: Placing the environment at the centre of social and economic development, and will serve to strengthen the environmental governance framework. The environment is the common thread that supports all sectors which contribute to the social and economic development of the nation.

    As Trinidad and Tobago continues on a sustainable development path,  efforts to empower our citizens for innovative solutions are necessary to mutually reinforce the balance between the environment and the economy will be encouraged at all avenues in order to secure national prosperity, as communicated in Trinidad and Tobago’s National Performance Framework (view publication at http://www.planning.gov.tt/publications).  The Agreement, therefore, will facilitate the enabling environment to achieve these objectives.

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