The Aarhus clearinghouse progress The Aarhus clearinghouse progress report & the integration of report & the integration of

capacity buildingcapacity building

November 2005November 2005

Clearinghouse’s Renewed MandateClearinghouse’s Renewed Mandate

DECISION II/3 On Electronic Information Tools DECISION II/3 On Electronic Information Tools and the Clearing-house Mechanism adopted in and the Clearing-house Mechanism adopted in Almaty at Second Meeting of the Parties Almaty at Second Meeting of the Parties (May 2005)(May 2005)

““Welcoming … the establishment of a Welcoming … the establishment of a clearing-clearing-

house mechanism and the launch of the house mechanism and the launch of the UNECE UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Environmental Democracy” Democracy”

In Almaty, the Meeting of the Parties…In Almaty, the Meeting of the Parties…

2.2. InvitesInvites Parties, Signatories and other Parties, Signatories and other interested States to develop a national node interested States to develop a national node of the clearing-house mechanism with legal of the clearing-house mechanism with legal and practical information on issues related and practical information on issues related to the Convention at national level, linked to to the Convention at national level, linked to the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for the UNECE Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy, and invites other Environmental Democracy, and invites other stakeholders to submit relevant information stakeholders to submit relevant information to the clearing house; …to the clearing house; …

3. 3. DecidesDecides to extend the mandate to extend the mandate of the Task Force on Electronic of the Task Force on Electronic Information Tools with Information Tools with the following programme of work: the following programme of work: . . .. . .(d) Maintenance and further (d) Maintenance and further development of the clearing-house development of the clearing-house mechanism, including development of mechanism, including development of guidance materials and a programme guidance materials and a programme of training workshops in support of of training workshops in support of capacity building for the national capacity building for the national nodes of the clearing house while nodes of the clearing house while avoiding duplication of work.avoiding duplication of work.

“ “ 20 ” 20 ”

Aarhus CH national nodes Aarhus CH national nodes have so far been designatedhave so far been designated

The Resource Directory holds The Resource Directory holds 730730 separate separate entries. Each entry is ‘tagged’ with one or entries. Each entry is ‘tagged’ with one or more thematic attribute: more thematic attribute:

Access to Information Access to Information 500500Public participation Public participation 330330Electronic Tools Electronic Tools 225225Access to Justice Access to Justice 174 174 PRTRs PRTRs 165 165 Convention Compliance Convention Compliance 112112 Strategic Decision-making Strategic Decision-making 109 109 GMOs GMOs 82 82

Resources entries by activity:Resources entries by activity:

Research 366366

Legislation 297 297 

Projects 266 266 

Policy 195 195 

Procedures 184 184 

Source of entries by organizational type:

NGOs NGOs 359 359 Intergovernmental organizations 223Intergovernmental organizations 223 Government Government 181 181 Academia Academia 72 72

Leaders’ entries among Parties and Signatories All sources United Kingdom + — 63 European Commission + — 30 Kyrgyzstan + — 19 Armenia, Georgia + — 17 Kazakhstan +/ — 16 Azerbaijan + — 14 Germany + — 11 Belarus +, Ireland +, Ukraine — 10 * Bulgaria +, Italy + — 9 * Republic of Moldova +, Switzerland — 8 * Norway, Tajikistan + — 7 * Romania, Spain, FYR Macedonia — 6 *___________

* each + designated Aarhus website / not operational

Visits 2005 to dateVisits 2005 to date

2004 Visits (24 weeks of operation) 30,000

2005 Visits (44 weeks of operation) 200,000

Next Steps underway…Next Steps underway…

Ongoing outreach with resource providersOngoing outreach with resource providers Fresh News features Fresh News features National node capacity building National node capacity building Content management guidance Content management guidance Help page (for users)Help page (for users) Upgrade web calendar of principle 10 Upgrade web calendar of principle 10 related eventsrelated events Clearinghouse information exchangeClearinghouse information exchange Integration of capacity building informationIntegration of capacity building information

Capacity building for implementationof the Aarhus Convention

Aim: to coordinate capacity building activities

How: by sharing information and by cooperation

Challenge: timely and efficient sharing of information on past, on-going and future capacity building activities

A solution: develop a framework to share capacity building information, i.e. through the Aarhus Convention Clearing House.

Other solutions?

Framework for integrating capacity building into the Clearinghouse

Access to InformationPublic ParticipationAccess to Justice

PRTRGMO

Electronic toolsStrategic Decision-makingConvention Compliance

Query

Capacity Building:Info and training materials

ProjectsEventsExpertsNeeds

GovernmentNGOsIGO

Academia

RegionsSub-regionsCountries

LegislationPolicy

ProceduresResearch

Result output

Build a Query

Processing the query

Capacity building needs identified through reporting and other sources

Reporting, info sources

(e.g. NIRs, TAI, UNITAR)

Activities for building capacity

Aarhus Conventionimplementation

Capacity building needs identification

Assessment of the

implementation

Further developments

Identify and agree on the way/mechanism for the partners to provide information.

Develop a user-friendly uploading

mechanism, a database and a GUI integrating the capacity building components into the Clearinghouse.

Provide access (login and username) to the partners to enable the submission of available information on capacity building.

Further developments

Database

ModifiedGUI

Specific query

Submission

mechanism

Specific output

Capaci

ty B

uild

ing P

art

ners

Nati

onal N

odes

Use

rs

Further developments

UNEP

MilieukontactOost Europa

UNITAR

WRI/TAI/PP10

EC

National nodes

OSCE

WB

ECO-ForumREC/CEE

CAREC