Increased industrialization in Asia has created countless hurdles for communities to protect themselves from pollution. Important government information—such as the amount of pollutants being discharged by nearby factories or results from local air and water quality monitoring—still isn’t readily accessible in user-friendly formats.这种做法often leaves the public entirely out of decision-making processes on issues like regulating pollution orexpanding industrial factories。In many cases, the public lack the information they need to understand and shield themselves from harmful environmental, social, and health impacts.

This state of affairs recently prompted a group of government officials, NGOs, local community representatives, and academics to demand government action to change the status quo. Last week, representatives from China, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand released theJakarta Declaration for Strengthening the Right to Environmental Information for People and the Environment。该声明敦促政府提高亚洲空气和水质污染信息的获取，并提供有关如何做到的详细路线图。

The Declaration stemmed from a meeting organized by WRI’sthe Access Initiativeand the印度尼西亚n Center for Environmental Law, held last week in Jakarta. Representatives will now bring the调查结果和建议清单to government officials in their home countries and ask for commitments on increasing transparency.

缺乏透明的环境信息

中国，印度尼西亚，日本，蒙古和泰国都采用了信息自由（FOI）法律，以保证获得信息的权利。但是，尽管这些法律在书籍上，但它们的影响不足。会议得出的结论是，必须做更多的事情，以确保实际获取环境信息。一些结论包括：

  • In日本，非政府组织需要更多使用FOI法律的能力。

  • In印度尼西亚，政府机构可以在其网站上以电子方式和用户友好的语言来获取空气和水的数据（包括环境影响评估）。

  • InMongolia, a program is needed to support citizens’ participation in decisions on the mining sector and to raise public awareness on the importance of the new FOI law.

  • InThailand, the government needs to reform the FOI legislation, providing administrative regulations to improve implementation. Part of this process could include designing programs to improve the capacity of government officials to implement the law.

  • 在里面菲律宾, the government could development a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register that discloses data on corporate emissions.

The Jakarta Declaration on Strengthening the Right to Environmental Information for People and the Environment

《雅加达宣言》还概述了亚洲国家可以提高透明度，获取信息和公众参与的方式。它包括16个指导原则。一些主要发现和建议包括：

  • 存在重大障碍，损害了当地社区在亚洲获得环境信息的访问。其中一些障碍包括成本；有限的信息在地方当局获得；以及公众难以理解的高度技术信息。

  • The public has a right to participate in establishing the types of environmental information to be released, including, but not limited to: planning applications, environmental impact assessments, permits, air and water quality monitoring information, and inspection reports.

  • Information must be made available to local communities in a wide range of formats, including internet, TV, radio, newspaper, paper records, and via mobile phones. This information must be systematically provided, timely, reliable, comprehensive, user-friendly, accessible, inexpensive, and accurate.

  • Access to information on corporate, facility, and state-owned enterprise’s pollutant discharges and their impacts on the environment is limited in many countries in the region. Corporate sector emission and discharge data must be provided to the government to enable environmental monitoring. This information directly relates to the environment and public health, and therefore, should be released in the public interest.

对于整个发现和建议列表，下载完整的声明。

向前访问信息

The Jakarta Declaration marks an important step forward for improving access to information about air and water. This comprehensive Declaration provides governments with concrete ideas for boosting access to information and safeguarding citizens from projects that may negatively impact air and water quality.

But a roadmap is only worthwhile if it’s actually used. Prioritizing proactive transparency值得对于政府和公众。释放环境信息可能会对亚洲社区的健康和福祉产生长期影响。