Aarhus Center
On June 25, 1998 in Aarhus (Denmark) at the 4th Conference of European Ministers of the Environment within the framework of the “Environment for Europe” Process, 38 countries signed the Convention “On Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters.” Turkmenistan has acceded to the Convention of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), named the Aarhus Convention, on the basis of Resolution of the Parliament (Mejlis) of Turkmenistan No. 364-I on April 30, 1999.
The activities of the Aarhus Center at “Tebigy kuwwat” – a public association enterprise (PAE) takes its countdown from August 2012, when a Memorandum of Cooperation on the joint implementation of the goals of the Aarhus convention in Turkmenistan was concluded between the Ministry of Nature Protection of Turkmenistan (currently the Ministry of Environment Protection of Turkmenistan) and the PAE “Tebigi kuwwat”. Within the framework of the Memorandum, with the support of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Turkmenistan and the OSCE Center in Ashgabat, the “Tebigy kuwwat” enterprise implemented the “Aarhus Center of Turkmenistan” project from 2012 to 2021.
The main goal of the Aarhus Centre is to promote the implementation of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention in Turkmenistan. To achieve this goal, the following tasks have been set for the main pillars of the Convention:
- Access to the information
- Release and distribution of information materials
- Development of information databases: websites, libraries, platforms, discussion platforms, including virtual ones
- Conducting seminars and working meetings with the participation of representatives of civil society
- Public participation in decision-making
- Establishing connections with public organizations
- Conducting consultations on environmental protection issues (EP)
- Involving the public in participation in environmental protection events
- Public access to justice
- Conducting consultations on legal issues in the field of ecology for civil society.
- Development and publication of manuals, collections, manuals, dictionaries, etc. on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention in Turkmenistan, the right of access to justice on environmental issues, legislation in the field of environmental protection of Turkmenistan, international environmental conventions, treaties of Turkmenistan, etc.
