When the UN General Assembly convenes this September in New York for its 73rd session, Latin American and Caribbean leaders will have the opportunity to sign the region’s first-ever treaty on public access to information, decision-making and court proceedings in environmental matters. Text for the binding accord, adopted March 4 in San José, Costa Rica by six civil-society representatives and government negotiators from 24 nations, aims to curb the often-violent conflict in the region over natural-resource extraction and infrastructure development. Negotiators say it represents a powerful means for citizens to obtain environmental information on proposed development projects in a timely way, and to use that information to weigh in early on government and judicial review of such plans. Yet they... [Log in to read more]