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UNHAPPY WITH THE LAW: ENVIRONMENTALISTS DEMAND ARMENIA'S COMPLIANCE WITH AARHUS CONVENTION
ENVIRONMENT | 09.07.14 | 11:46
http://armenianow.com/society/environment/55901/armenia_environment_law
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
"The new law "On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise"
adopted last month by the legislative body of the country has given
rise to environmentalists' discontent and criticism as they see
serious deficiencies and gaps in the law.
Silva Adamyan, coordinator of the Public Ecological Alliance,
says that the law passed on June 21 contradicts the demands of the
Aarhus Convention signed and verified by Armenia, it does not stem
from the environmental and democratic principles of the country,
does not contribute to the resolution of environmental problems.
"The law contextually contradicts the demands of the Aarhus Convention
signed and verified by Armenia. The purpose of adopting a new law was
supposed to be verifying the functioning law's deficiencies, developing
and improving legal regulations, but the mentioned law does not solve
these problems, moreover, it stipulates unclear complicated processes
creating new problems, contradicting the international legal norms,"
Adamyan said. "Before the adoption of the new law, the Armenian law
"On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise" adopted in 1995 was
in effect, and during this time the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus
Convention four times made a decision emphasizing the non-compliance
of the Armenia law with the practice, demanding that Armenia bring
its legislation in conformity with the Convention."
Environmentalists mention that the legislators adopted the new
law without considering all that. According to Armenian Forests NGO
President Nazeli Vardanyan, the most important factor was not preserved
- public participation in any environment-related decision-making.
"According to the new law, all types of actions are divided into three
groups and public participation in these three groups must be realized
on different degrees. For instance, in case of small HPPs there is
no more need to organize public discussions, just evaluation will
be enough to give license. The law is worded in an abstruse manner
whereas the Aarhus Convention demands that the law be worded so that
common people can read and understand it," she said.
Environmentalists believe that incomplete realization of the Aarhus
Convention demands will have a negative impact on foreign investments
and project funding in the environmental field.
Environmentalist Levon Galstyan participated for the first three
months in the works of the group dealing with law drafting, then he
quit seeing that no specialists capable of writing a correct law were
included in the working group.
"Most importantly responsibility is missing. We voiced this question
several times while writing the law but fruitlessly. We were not
able to introduce the ideology that when a certain area's residents,
public has negative attitude toward the project, the Ministry of
Nature Protection must give a negative conclusion. It was impossible,
which means that everything is pointless, whatever is discussed is
pointless," Galstyan said.
He thinks it is impossible to write a new law with the methodology
and professional skills existing in the country.
A number of environmental organizations sent a letter to the country's
president, mentioning that the law contains many errors, gaps having
been mentioned at various occasions by local and international experts,
however the Ministry of Nature Protection again gave assurances that
all suggestions were considered and a new version was introduced at
the same time leaving the draft unchanged, with the deficiencies.
"Armenia does not follow its responsibilities in accordance with the
Convention, Armenia's reputation briskly descended among international
structures, the Convention is not fully realized in Armenia, the
public is deprived of the opportunity to participate in Convention
processes, and citizens and public organizations' rights defined by
the Convention are constantly violated which creates distrust toward
the government and adds up to public discontent. It is not without
reason that during the fifth meeting of the Convention parties Armenia
was found to be a country that does not comply with the Convention,"
the letter addressed to the Armenian president reads.
The environmentalists ask President Serzh Sargsyan to return the law
"On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise" to the National
Assembly for a new discussion.
ENVIRONMENT | 09.07.14 | 11:46
http://armenianow.com/society/environment/55901/armenia_environment_law
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
"The new law "On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise"
adopted last month by the legislative body of the country has given
rise to environmentalists' discontent and criticism as they see
serious deficiencies and gaps in the law.
Silva Adamyan, coordinator of the Public Ecological Alliance,
says that the law passed on June 21 contradicts the demands of the
Aarhus Convention signed and verified by Armenia, it does not stem
from the environmental and democratic principles of the country,
does not contribute to the resolution of environmental problems.
"The law contextually contradicts the demands of the Aarhus Convention
signed and verified by Armenia. The purpose of adopting a new law was
supposed to be verifying the functioning law's deficiencies, developing
and improving legal regulations, but the mentioned law does not solve
these problems, moreover, it stipulates unclear complicated processes
creating new problems, contradicting the international legal norms,"
Adamyan said. "Before the adoption of the new law, the Armenian law
"On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise" adopted in 1995 was
in effect, and during this time the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus
Convention four times made a decision emphasizing the non-compliance
of the Armenia law with the practice, demanding that Armenia bring
its legislation in conformity with the Convention."
Environmentalists mention that the legislators adopted the new
law without considering all that. According to Armenian Forests NGO
President Nazeli Vardanyan, the most important factor was not preserved
- public participation in any environment-related decision-making.
"According to the new law, all types of actions are divided into three
groups and public participation in these three groups must be realized
on different degrees. For instance, in case of small HPPs there is
no more need to organize public discussions, just evaluation will
be enough to give license. The law is worded in an abstruse manner
whereas the Aarhus Convention demands that the law be worded so that
common people can read and understand it," she said.
Environmentalists believe that incomplete realization of the Aarhus
Convention demands will have a negative impact on foreign investments
and project funding in the environmental field.
Environmentalist Levon Galstyan participated for the first three
months in the works of the group dealing with law drafting, then he
quit seeing that no specialists capable of writing a correct law were
included in the working group.
"Most importantly responsibility is missing. We voiced this question
several times while writing the law but fruitlessly. We were not
able to introduce the ideology that when a certain area's residents,
public has negative attitude toward the project, the Ministry of
Nature Protection must give a negative conclusion. It was impossible,
which means that everything is pointless, whatever is discussed is
pointless," Galstyan said.
He thinks it is impossible to write a new law with the methodology
and professional skills existing in the country.
A number of environmental organizations sent a letter to the country's
president, mentioning that the law contains many errors, gaps having
been mentioned at various occasions by local and international experts,
however the Ministry of Nature Protection again gave assurances that
all suggestions were considered and a new version was introduced at
the same time leaving the draft unchanged, with the deficiencies.
"Armenia does not follow its responsibilities in accordance with the
Convention, Armenia's reputation briskly descended among international
structures, the Convention is not fully realized in Armenia, the
public is deprived of the opportunity to participate in Convention
processes, and citizens and public organizations' rights defined by
the Convention are constantly violated which creates distrust toward
the government and adds up to public discontent. It is not without
reason that during the fifth meeting of the Convention parties Armenia
was found to be a country that does not comply with the Convention,"
the letter addressed to the Armenian president reads.
The environmentalists ask President Serzh Sargsyan to return the law
"On Environmental Impact Evaluation and Expertise" to the National
Assembly for a new discussion.