PRESS RELEASE 23 JUNE 2010

ENVIRONMENTALISTS FROM SPAIN AND GIBRALTAR CLAIM OUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TRILATERAL FORUM.
WE REMIND THE GOVERNMENTS OF SPAIN, GIBRALTAR, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, THAT THE AARHUS CONVENTION GUARANTEES OUR RIGHT TO TAKE PART IN TRYING TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS THAT IS AFFECTING OUR ENVIRONMENT.

The following environmental organisations, Agaden (Agrupacion Gaditana de Defensa y Estudio de la Naturaleza), ESG (Environmental Safety Group), GONHS (Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society), Greenpeace, and Verdemar (Ecologistas en Accion), have written to the representative administrations in the Tripartite Forum of Spain, Gibraltar, and the United Kingdom, to claim our right to participate in the decision-making process in which measures will be taken to effectively protect the environment of our Bay.

We had, on previous occasions, requested the setting up of a working process which would allow our participation, as interested parties, in the decisions taken by the Forum involving environmental matters. However, up until now, these requests have not been met. With this new initiative, we wish to inform the Forum that our requests are legally supported by the Aarhus Convention (1) which is backed by the United Nations, as well by EU guidelines.

“The ESG believes that the Forum has initiated a process wherein it recognises the environmental problems affecting the Bay, and wants to find solutions. The Aarhus Convention acknowledges our right to participate in this process as an interested party, and therefore we want to secure our immediate participation,” has stated a spokesperson for the ESG.

The Forum has agreed to give momentum to the question of co-operation on environmental matters. The meeting held in Gibraltar in July 2009 resulted in the creation of a document entitled “Framework for Early Negotiations.” This document tackles environmental issues in a forceful manner, and includes some of the proposals which had been previously submitted in two documents by the coalition of environmental groups.

(1) According to the Aarhus Convention on access to information, the three governments which are represented in the Forum must comply with its requirement by which it must allow public participation and access to the justice system involving environmental matters, which has been ratified by the European Union. “Each part will adopt measures to enable public participation at the start of the process, that is when all the options and solutions are still possible, and when the public is still in a position to exert a real influence.”