title: Access to environmental information: a driver of accountable governance in Morocco and Tunisia?
Creators: name: Houdret, Annabelle
name: Pasqua, Irene
name: Meknassi, Saâd Fillali
Publisher: name: German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/01t3zke88
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Governance
subject: Umwelt
subject: Ressource
subject: Governance
subject: Environment
subject: Natural Resources

description: In Tunisia, Morocco and other North African countries, environmental problems
 increasingly lead to political protest. Industrial pollution and a lack of clean drinking
 water adversely impact the living conditions and income opportunities of already
 marginalised groups and trigger unrest. Environmental governance in the region is often
 highly centralised, and takes no consideration of the needs of the citizens in the use of
 natural resources. In a political context that remains unstable following the 2011
 uprisings, the double challenge of mounting environmental problems and related social
 unrest calls for new approaches. Reinforcing accountable environmental governance could
 help, not only by addressing environmental problems and needs, but by contributing to the
 overall transformation of societal relationships towards more democratic (i.e.
 transparent, accountable and participative) governance in the longer term. <br> Access to
 environmental information plays a crucial role in this regard: only if citizens know about
 availability, quality and use of natural resources, can they make informed choices and
 claim their rights. When public institutions address these rights, they can increase
 sustainable wealth for present and future generations. Institutions charged with
 strengthening accountability can also include citizens in their monitoring exercises, and
 help to hold public and private actors legally responsible for their decisions and
 behaviour. Related international standards can inform such reforms: the Universal
 Declaration of Human Rights, the Rio Declaration and the Aarhus Convention confirm the
 importance of access to environmental information. At national levels, environmental
 charters and Morocco’s and Tunisia’s new constitutions stress the need for participatory
 and accountable governance. <br> As recent assessments in Morocco and Tunisia reveal,
 governments and development partners can support access to environmental information and
 thereby accountable governance. <br> First, they can do this by strengthening accountable
 environmental governance and access to environmental information across sectors. This
 includes engaging democratic institutions in environmental issues and building up related
 capacities and know-how, supporting accountability organisations and rules, and improving
 citizens’ and the administrations’ understanding of new rights. It also entails empowering
 communities and forging new cross-sectoral coalitions, besides integrating the countries
 into international initiatives for accountable governance. <br> Second, governments and
 development cooperation can support accountability in the environmental sector, including
 by taking advantage of international initiatives, such as the Sustainable Development
 Goals (SDGs). Climate mitigation and adaptation policies also provide opportunities for
 strengthening accountable environmental governance. Moreover, policy-makers need to be
 more aware of the links between environmental governance and its potential impact on human
 rights and political stability. Access to environmental information, related legal
 frameworks and institutional capacities also need further backing, including support to
 articulate related claims. Finally, comprehensive and transparent environmental and social
 impact assessments of public and private projects, and engaging protest movements in
 constructive dialogues with the administration and the private sector can help in
 preventing and addressing related social unrest.
description: Briefing Paper, 10/2018