GUYANA will today join several regional countries in signing on to the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The signing will take place on the sidelines of the general debate of the 73rd session of the global organisation’s General Assembly. Vice-President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, who is heading Guyana’s delegation at the UN General Assembly will sign the pact on behalf of this country. According to a UN release, the Escazú Agreement will be open for the signature of all the countries in the Region today.

The Escazú Agreement – so named because it was adopted last March 4 in the municipality of Escazú in Costa Rica – is the Region’s first environmental agreement. It is the only one of its kind in the world, since it includes specific provisions regarding defenders of human rights in environmental matters; it is the first legal instrument to have emerged thus far from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Río+20).

The official opening for signature ceremony will take place at 10:00hrs in the Treaty Event Area (“Kuwaiti Boat Area”) in the building of the UN General Assembly. The ceremony will be headed by the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Miguel de Serpa Soares. It will include participants such as the Vice-President and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica — the country where the agreement was adopted – Epsy Campbell Barr; the Prime Ministers of Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; the Vice-Presidents of Guyana and Panama, along with other foreign affairs ministers and ministers, totalling more than 20 countries of the Region. Present also will be Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which holds the Technical Secretariat of the Agreement.

From September 27 onward, any state that has signed the Regional Agreement will be able to ratify, accept or approve it. Ratification, acceptance or approval can be undertaken immediately after the signing. To enter into force, the Agreement will require 11 States Parties. In addition to the official delegations from signatory countries, other potential participants in the ceremony include intergovernmental organisations and related entities that have observer status with the General Assembly, as well as non-governmental organisations that are in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The Escazú Agreement seeks to ensure that all persons have access to timely and reliable information and can participate in an effective way in the decisions that affect their lives and their environments. It also seeks to ensure that people can access justice in environmental matters, thereby contributing to the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This is an Agreement made by us, for us and the generations to come. It is a visionary instrument, without precedent, a second-generation environmental treaty, because it explicitly links environmental matters with human rights and guarantees procedural rights that are essential for adequately implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, indicated.

As of today, the following countries have confirmed that they will sign the Agreement: Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Uruguay. Other countries of the Region are presently processing their confirmation.

After the signature ceremony, a press conference will be held at 11:30hrs on September 27, in conference room S-237 on the second floor of the UN Secretariat building, with the participation of Alicia Bárcena and Epsy Campbell Barr, among other authorities.

Also on Thursday, September 27, the event “Early Ratification of the Escazú Agreement: Regional action on Environmental Democracy to fulfil the vision of the 2030 SDG Agenda” will take place at the Open Society Foundation’s headquarters in New York (6:00 – 9 p.m.). Organised jointly by ECLAC, the governments of Chile and Costa Rica and the organisations The Access Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean, Open Society Foundation, Namati, World Resources Institute, Amnesty International, Civicus and DAR (Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales), this event aims to promote dialogue and inspire countries to sign, ratify and implement the Escazú Agreement.