El Acuerdo Escazú: La implementación del Principio 10 de Río en América Latina y el Caribe

Abstract

Twenty years after the enshrinement of the Aarhus Convention, the Latin American and Caribbean States adopted the Escazú Agreement in order to improve implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. This paper thoroughly introduces this novel regional agreement in four main sections. The first one reviews Rio’s Principle 10 and its role within the sustainable development paradigm. The second one focuses on the negotiating process which concluded with the adoption of the agreement. The third one examines the role of the Aarhus Convention as a reference document for the new instrument. Finally, the fourth section assesses in detail the agreement’s text, revising its most relevant provisions and, especially, the four pillars established in it. The remaining pages expose some insights about the relevance of the agreement, the future perspectives and the way forward.