Citizen sensing from a legal standpoint: Legitimizing the practice under the Aarhus framework
Berti Suman,Anna
Berti Suman,Anna
Abstract
'Citizen sensing', grassroots-driven environmental monitoring, could revolutionize environmental risk governance and decision-making. Yet, citizen sensing is far from being accepted by governmental authorities. This contribution explores the environmental law doctrine and legislation for a possible legal basis on which the 'sensing citizens' could perform their actions. I argue that the practice, by nature, voices the citizen's claims to have access to (accurate) environmental information. I defend that citizen sensing is a legitimate manifestation of 'rights in action' that can enhance the respect of human environmental rights and promote their enforcement. This study demonstrates how, from the Aarhus Convention framework, an obligation for competent authorities to 'listen' to the sensing citizens might even be constructed in case of institutional informational gaps and failures.
Description
Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Citizen sensing, Environmental decision-making, Environmental risk governance, Public participation, The right to access environmental information, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation
Berti Suman, A 2021, 'Citizen sensing from a legal standpoint : Legitimizing the practice under the Aarhus framework', Journal for European Environmental and Planning Law, vol. 18, no. 1-2, pp. 8-38. https://doi.org/10.1163/18760104-18010003
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess