Contemporary global perspectives on public participation and fulfilment of environmental rights

Abstract

This article argues that meaningful public participation has evolved beyond a mere procedural
mechanism to become an indispensable component of the realisation of the right to an
environment that is not harmful to health and well-being. Tracing developments from the 1972
Stockholm Declaration through the Rio Declaration (particularly Principle 10), the Aarhus
Convention, and African regional instruments including the African Charter on Human and
Peoples' Rights and the SADC Treaty and Forestry Protocol, the article analyses how these
instruments have progressively embedded public participation, access to information, and
access to justice as essential pillars of environmental protection. It evaluates the translation of
these international norms into national legal systems, identifying persistent challenges
including restricted access to environmental information, weak implementation of
Environmental Impact Assessment processes, and barriers to meaningful public engagement
in environmental decision-making. The article considers Zimbabwe's engagement with these
frameworks since the 1992 Rio Summit and assesses the country's progress in domesticating
participatory environmental principles. The article's novelty lies in demonstrating that the
effectiveness of participatory environmental rights depends not merely on their recognition in
international and regional legal instruments but on their coherent domestic implementation
within rights-based environmental governance. It concludes that despite significant normative
advances at international and regional levels, meaningful public participation remains
contingent upon states enacting and effectively implementing legislation that empowers
citizens, particularly vulnerable communities to participate in environmental governance. The

article argues that new paradigms are required to ensure inclusive environmental decision-
making that recognises the interdependence between environmental protection and the realisation of other human rights.