Public participation at international law landscape
Contrary to some environmental agreements of global scope, the International Law Commission´s (ILC) Articles are relevant also for public participation in environmental matters. As mentioned, the ILC Articles formulate the principle for access to information and public participation accordingly:
The participatory element consists in the requirement that states, when providing the information concerning activities, must also ascertain the views of the public. While not very elaborate, it at least indicates that states would not comply with this duty merely by disseminating information without any consideration of the views of the public.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights refers to the right to be part of government, directly or through voting, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs. In principle, both versions of the right to political participation embrace environmental matters, but this right has not been understood as implying in itself a right for members of the public to take part in specific environmental decision-making.
A right to participate in environmental decision-making is also set out in the 1989 International Labour Organozation (ILO) Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (20 parties). Focusing on tribal and indigenous peoples, it provides for consultations and for means by which these peoples may freely participate at all levels of decision-making as well as in the use, management and conservation of natural resources.