The democratic rights of the poor and their capacity to participate in environmental decisions affecting their livelihoods are central to their ability to escape poverty. Yet despite their greater reliance on natural resources to earn their livelihoods, the poor have less say than their richer counterparts in how environmental decisions are made.

In much of the developing world the policies, practices, and institutions of political life serve to exclude a majority of citizens from full participation in public decision-making -- especially the poor and socially marginalized. This is true even in many nations that are nominally democratic. Democratic governance is more than merely casting a ballot in periodic elections. It means having opportunities beyond the ballot box to make one’s voice heard, including participation in public hearings, review of official documents, and involvement in official processes, such as the preparation of environmental impact assessments. Full democratic engagement also means having opportunities not just to consult on projects already slated for implementation but also to play a role in shaping the design of public policies, in agendasetting and establishing priorities for public policy, and in monitoring ongoing projects to ensure that they produce the benefits originally anticipated. (See Figure 3.3 Voice And Accountability, 2004 .)

These principles of democratic empowerment in the arena of environmental decisions were articulated over a decade ago at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, adopted by 178 nations at the close of the Earth Summit, put forth a ground-breaking proposition: that every person should have access to information about the environment, opportunities to participate in decision-making processes affecting the environment, and access to redress and remedy—that is, access to justice—to protect their rights to information and participation and to challenge decisions that do not take their interests into account. These three rights—the rights to information, participation, and redress—are often referred to as the Access Principles. (See Box 3.3 Voice And Accountability, 2004 )

In 2002, during the World Summit on Sustainable Development, governments reaffirmed their commitment to Principle 10 and the Access Principles. At the same time, a coalition of governments, civil society organizations, and international institutions formed the Partnership for Principle 10 to help implement these principles at the national and local levels. Unfortunately, the record of most nations in conferring these basic rights is still far from perfect. A 2001 assessment of nine nations—both rich and poor—found a variety of systemic weaknesses. For example, many nations have improved their laws granting public access to government data and analysis, but implementation of these laws is weak. Information on water or air quality that average citizens can understand and use is often hard to find, and documents about the environmental effects of development projects are frequently not made available in a timely manner (Petkova et al. 2002:1-8).

Even if information is made available, the public’s ability to participate in resource-related decisions such as timber harvesting or the siting of mines is still limited. Although the process of preparing and publicly airing environmental impact assessments has greatly increased in the last two decades, the public’s involvement still tends to be in the later stages, after many major decisions have already been made. And even when public comment is invited, many people do not have the capacity or time to take advantage of the opportunity. Performance on the Access Principles is weakest when it comes to access of ordinary citizens to redress. The ability of local people to appeal decisions they don’t agree with is often constrained by obstacles of cost, lack of clarity about procedures for appeal, and also the lack of “standing” as a legally recognized party with a legitimate interest in the case (WRI et al. 2003:48-61).

These access deficits are not restricted to the poor, but the poor tend to suffer them more acutely. Indeed, most of the world’s poor are excluded from interacting fully within the political processes of their country—and environmental decisions are decidedly political in many cases. They are held back by lack ofeducation and literacy, by deficits of information and awareness,and by a lack of understanding of their rights and how to exercise them. Even where the poor are aware of their rights, other barriers may prevent them from becoming involved. People who are barely managing to eke out a subsistence livelihood often cannot afford the luxury of devoting time and resources to participation or even information-gathering. And they may be even less able to pursue a legal challenge to decisions with which they disagree, given the expense and time burden. (See Figure 3.4 The Poor's Perception Of Rural Institutions .)

The sections below detail some of the ways in which the poor are particularly affected by deficits in their rights to information, participation, and justice. Also discussed are some of the successful steps that have been taken to address these shortcomings. (See Box 3.3 Empowering Communities Through Free, Prior, And Informed Consent.)