Resolving International Environmental Disputes: Public Participation and the Right-to-Know

Abstract

The North American Free Trade Agreement is the first trade pact that provides considerable protections for a country's environmental standards. The environmental side agreement to theNAFTA, negotiated at the insistence of and with the participation of environmental groups, has promoted the important roles in environmental regulation and enforcement played by the principles of transparency (right-to-know) and public participation (right-to-sue). The side agreement provides for: citizen submissions to the Secretariat of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation; the U.S., Mexican, and Canadian governments' guarantees of citizens' right-to-know, as well as citizen suits and remedies regarding environmental harm and requests for enforcement of environmental laws. As procedures under the NAFTA and its environmental side agreement are developed, opportunities remain to incorporate the principles af transparency and public participation even more broadly.2