Analyzing the Environmental Democracy in International Law and Iran’s Legal System

Abstract

Procedural environmental law, also known as environmental democracy consists of three Pillars, which include the right of access to environmental information, the right of participation in environmental decision-making procedures and the right of access to justice. Environmental democracy is granted to citizens for their empowerment in order to protect their health against environmental damage and to ensure the environment. The aim of this study is to investigate the above rights in the international documents, jurisprudence and domestic legal systems of some leading states and then analyse the Iranian legal system through descriptive-analytical method. We found that Iranian legal system still suffers from some gaps despite the positive efforts to achieve environmental democracy in recent years. The most important issues are the lack of specific rules on people’s access to environmental information, a favorable system for citizen participation in environmental decisions, and a dedicated environmental court.

Keywords

• international jurisprudence
• environmental democracy
• access to environmental information
• access to justice
• public participation
• iranian legal system