6 - Guinea-Bissau accedes to the Aarhus Convention

Guinea-Bissau has acceded to the Aarhus convention, becoming the first country outside the pan-European region to so do. 

Minister of Environment and Biodiversity of Guinea-Bissau, Viriato Luís Soares Cassamá, stated: “With this accession, Guinea-Bissau hopes to take advantage of the instruments of the Convention to fight climate change, promote its biodiversity as well as the protection, conservation, and safeguarding of the environment, allowing public participation in decision-making as well as access to justice when their rights to the environment are violated. Furthermore, Guinea-Bissau aims with this accession to be the flagship of the "Aarhus Convention trilogy" and to promote it in West Africa.”  

The UN Press Release indicates that Guinea-Bissau “ is rich in natural resources and in coastal, marine and terrestrial biodiversity. At the same time, it is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, which causes increased salinization and flooding in coastal regions, impacting agriculture and resulting in shortages of drinking water, destroying infrastructure and ecosystems, and fostering the proliferation of diseases. A major challenge linked to the use of its natural resources is that most deposits of building materials are located in protected areas which also serve as corridors of major strategic projects, such as mining of bauxite in Boé, railway links, trans-Sahelian roads, and the commercial port of Buba.” 

This is an exciting indicator of the expanding reach of the Aarhus Convention and its three pillars of transparency, effective public participation and access to justice. 

Authors:
– James Maurici KC – James has been in many of the leading cases on Aarhus costs including: R (RSPB) v SSJ [2017] 5 Costs L.O. 691; Case C 530/11 Commission v United Kingdom; Case C-260/11 Edwards v EA; R (Edwards) v EA (No.2) [2011] 1 Costs L.R. 70 and [2013] UKSC 78; and R (Edwards) v EA [2011] 1 W.L.R. 79. He has also appeared a number of times before the UNECE Aarhus Compliance Committee in Geneva, cases include: ACCC/C/2010/45; ACCC/C/2010/53; ACCC/C/2011/60; ACCC/C/2011/61; ACCC/C/2012/77; and ACCC/C/2014/100 and 101. He is currently acting for the UK Government on the Brexit communication to the Compliance Committee – ACCC/C/2017/150. He was one of the contributors to the Aarhus Convention: A Guide for UK Lawyers (2015) and he has written and lectured extensively on the Aarhus Convention.

– Jacqueline Lean – Jacqueline has also been instructed on a number of matters concerning the Aarhus Convention, including appearing (with James Maurici KC) for United Kingdom before the Aarhus Compliance Committee on two communications concerning the Government’s decision to proceed with HS2 (ACCC/C/100 & 101); representing the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Secretary of State in R (CPRE Kent) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2019] EWCA Civ 1230 in which the Court of Appeal considered the approach to summary assessment of costs at permission stage when an Aarhus costs cap applied; and acting for the Secretary of State in R (RSPB) v Secretary of State for Justice [2018] Env LR 13, a challenge to the Government’s amendments to the Aarhus costs protections in the CPR (also with James Maurici KC).    She is also a contributing author to Coppel’s ‘Information Rights’ on Environmental Information.

– Nick Grant – Nick joined Chambers in 2019 and has regularly advised on Aarhus related matters. He has represented the UK twice before the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, appearing with James Maurici KC in ACCC/C/2017/150 (the Withdrawal Act case) and unled in the admissibility hearing for ACCC/C/2022/194 (the free trade agreements case).

– Alex Shattock – Alex has been involved in a number of environmental claims including Friends of the Earth v SSLUHC (the Cumbria coal mine case: acting for Friends of the Earth in the Planning Inquiry and High Court, with Paul Brown KC and Toby Fisher); Cox and Ors v Oil and Gas Authority [2022] EWHC 75 (Admin) (representing Extinction Rebellion activists in a challenge to the Oil and Gas Authority’s Strategy, with David Wolfe KC and Merrow Golden); R (Hough) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 1635 (acting for the claimant in an environmental and equalities challenge to the controversial use of Napier Barracks as asylum seeker accommodation, with Alex Goodman and Charles Bishop). He regularly advises individual and NGO clients on Aarhus costs protection. Alex also has a keen interest in treaty law generally. He has a masters and PhD in public international law and has been involved in various treaty negotiations and treaty ratification processes.