National Profile and Action Plan Development to Implement Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration

In 2007, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic initiated a project to prepare a National Profile and Action Plan to implement Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. Adopted by Heads of State and Governments at the Rio Summit in 1992, Principle 10 has become an important international reference point to strengthen access to environmental information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

The projects seek to provide a better understanding of and to strengthen existing capacities for participatory environmental governance, taking into account national and local needs and circumstances. Central America was chosen for a pilot phase in light of requests received from a number of governments from countries in the region. The projects are implemented in coordination with the Executive Secretariat of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
 
With funding from the Government of Spain, three additional countries in Central America - Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua – are initiating a National Profile and Action Plan project in 2009 to assess and strengthen capacities for implementing Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration..
 
Development of a regional approach on Principle 10 implementation in Central America
 
Working in collaboration with the CCAD Executive Secretariat, and with funding from the Government of Spain, UNITAR will support activities at the regional level in 2009-2010 to facilitate knowledge exchange and regional strategy development to implement Principle 10 in Central America and the Dominican Republic. A regional workshop is scheduled to take place in mid 2010, jointly organized by UNITAR and CCAD.
 
Targeted follow-up training
 
Taking into account priorities and capacity needs identified through the National Profile and Action Plan projects and through the regional dialogue, UNITAR will support targeted training and skills development for selected priority areas in 2009-2010.
 

For additional information on the Central American pilot projects please refer to the Project Information Note available in Spanish and English from our publications page