Environmental Law Lecture series
Welcome to the Environmental Law Lecture series! In this series, environmental law scholars will provide important insights into how EU environmental law helps to achieve a high level of environmental protection in the European Union and beyond.
Freedom of Environmental Information
The right of access to environmental information is viewed as a key component of promoting good environmental governance. This is reflected in the range of legal instruments at the international, European, and domestic levels which act to guarantee the public’s ability to access environmental information. However, the operation and even existence of the right are often mysteries to the very public it is supposed to empower.
In this lecture they introduce the right of access to environmental information, based on the Aarhus Convention and the implementation of it through EU law, setting out the “proactive” and “reactive” rights of access and their associated obligations. We then consider the impact that the right has had on environmental governance, highlighting both the right’s successes and the challenges it has faced (and continues to face) in practice by drawing on an empirical study of who is using the right and in what ways.
Biography
Prof. Colin T Reid is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Dundee having recently retired from his full-time post. Work with Dr Sean Whittaker and Dr Jonathan Mendel has led to the book Freedom of Environmental Information: Aspirations and Practice (Intersentia, 2023). Other work has focussed on biodiversity, e.g. The Privatisation of Biodiversity: New Approaches to Conservation Law (with Dr Walters Nsoh (Intersentia, 2016)), and on matters of environmental governance, especially in the context of Brexit and devolution, including a role as adviser to committees at the Scottish Parliament. He was a founder member and is now a Patron of the UK Environmental Law Association.
Dr. Sean Whittaker was conferred his PhD in Environmental Law from University College Cork in 2018, under the supervision of Professor Áine Ryall. Following the publication of his book The Right of Access to Environmental Information (Cambridge University Press, 2021), he worked on an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project. This project led to the publication of the co-authored book Freedom of Environmental Information: Aspirations and Practice (Intersentia, 2023) with Prof Colin Reid and Dr Jonathan Mendel. Currently, Dr Whittaker is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Dundee and is the Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom of Information, which is based at the University of Dundee.
Lecture Series
This lecture is part of a series that runs from 2023 to 2024, providing students and scholars with core insights into the current state of EU environmental law and how it can be improved to achieve greater environmental protection. All lectures will be recorded and made accessible through YouTube, and the series is freely accessible to all.
If you'd like to know more about the other upcoming lectures:
This GreenDeal-Net lecture serie is hosted by MCEL, METRO and organised in cooperation with GLaw-Net and GreenDeal-NET. Maastricht University students will be eligible for certificates of attendance (see more information under the registration link).