This article analyzes the key role of public access to information in modern environmental governance. Guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, by Directive 2003/4/EC and by legislative-decree n. 195/2005, the right of Access to environmental information has a substantial impact on how individuals can act as environmental stewards and public bodies can protect the environment. In particular, information disclosure provisions can help to minimize the information asymmetry between the State and its citizens. In doing so, individuals are empowered in their role as environmental stewards, able to effectively participate in environmental decision-making procedures and to exert “bottom-up” pressure on the State and private entities in their role as consumers and investors. However, the historical evolution of the right to access environmental information today is confronted with the reform of italian legislation on transparency. Therefore, a reflection is needed on the interaction between the special forms of access coexisting in the italian legal system, with specific reference to environmental information, and the generalized civic access introduced by the legislative-decree n. 97/2016 (so-called Italian Freedom of Information Act). In conclusion the essay focuses on the fact that right to access information, as it belongs to the corpus of human rights, is a precondition for a good environmental administration.

Il contributo dell'accesso alle informazioni ambientali alla tutela del patrimonio pubblico

Pizzanelli Giovanna
2020-01-01

Abstract

This article analyzes the key role of public access to information in modern environmental governance. Guaranteed by the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, by Directive 2003/4/EC and by legislative-decree n. 195/2005, the right of Access to environmental information has a substantial impact on how individuals can act as environmental stewards and public bodies can protect the environment. In particular, information disclosure provisions can help to minimize the information asymmetry between the State and its citizens. In doing so, individuals are empowered in their role as environmental stewards, able to effectively participate in environmental decision-making procedures and to exert “bottom-up” pressure on the State and private entities in their role as consumers and investors. However, the historical evolution of the right to access environmental information today is confronted with the reform of italian legislation on transparency. Therefore, a reflection is needed on the interaction between the special forms of access coexisting in the italian legal system, with specific reference to environmental information, and the generalized civic access introduced by the legislative-decree n. 97/2016 (so-called Italian Freedom of Information Act). In conclusion the essay focuses on the fact that right to access information, as it belongs to the corpus of human rights, is a precondition for a good environmental administration.
2020
Pizzanelli, Giovanna
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/1044063
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