The Aarhus Convention and the Espoo Convention

More than three decades of the Espoo Convention and more than a quarter of a century of the Aarhus Convention provide a basis for assessing whether their instruments have been implemented effectively. The Conventions have not achieved a global scale, but on the European continent, they have undeniably become an expression of the implementation of the political and programmatic provisions of the Stockholm and Rio Declarations, of the principle of sustainable development and of the realisation of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Rather than primarily benefitting the environment and its components indirectly, the adoption of these conventions, which are fundamental to the established procedures, directly benefits human rights, participatory democracy, and civil society. The procedural foundations of these conventions have undoubtedly provided the basis for the greening of human rights, which has become a new paradigm in human rights approaches. It is also the basis for the identification of another general principle of environmental law, namely the principle of environmental socialisation. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of these two Conventions by the States Parties that ratified them and the impact of these standards on the development of environmental law in the European Union.