The topic of this thesis is Environmental Impact Assessment and Public Participation. The structure of the thesis consists of six chapters that are further divided into several sections and subsections. The first chapter introduces the concept of EIA in reference to the principles upon which the concept is based on. The following chapter addresses a number of international and EU legal documents related to the concept of EIA and its legal regulation. The third and fourth chapter should be considered as a fundamental part of the thesis, which focuses on the legal regulation of the concept of EIA in the Czech Republic and the Act No. 39/2015 Coll., amending the act on environmental impact assessment. The last chapter summarises and evaluates the findings of the previous chapters.

The focus of this master thesis is the concept of environmental democracy at the level of the Aarhus convention. Environmental democracy rights which are the rights to access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters were mentioned for the first time at the global level in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992. With this Principle the main role of public participation in decision-making in environmental matters was acknowledged and it had a significant impact on fulfillment of sustainable development goals. To these days the most important elaboration of Principle 10 in international law is Aarhus Convention signed within the framework of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 1998. Main research question of this thesis is if it is possible to measure environmental democracy on the level of the region of UNECE, so the implementation of the Aarhus Convention provisions by its member states. Therefore, the research problem is the creation of the theoretical framework and the methodological procedure for building of composite indicator which will measure environmental democracy rights at the level of Aarhus convention. That will be demonstrated on the first pillar of the Convention. This thesis...

Although these days, we can perceive the right for environmental information as something automated and quite natural in a democratic society, we must realize that it was far from it in the past. Hand in hand with the principle of secretiveness of state administration, the public had virtually no possibility to obtain information concerning not only the state of the environment but also general information concerning almost anything. It is not surprising after all because before 1989, neither the general right for information nor the right for environmental information were protected by law, less alone by the constitution. Nevertheless, the democratic changes which took place after the Velvet Revolution produced changes also in the field of the right for information and this right was, both generally - as a right for information, and specifically - as a right for environmental information, included in the legal regulation of the greatest legal force, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which became a part of the constitutional order of the Czech Republic on the basis of the resolution of the Czech National Council presidium No. 2/1993 Coll. On the basis of its constitutional protection, the right for environmental information was provided for also by law (Act No. 123/1998 Coll.) and...

The Swedish government is legally obliged to conduct climate policy work that will protect nature and humanity from the harmful effects of climate change. Obligations related to the environment arise under Swedish domestic law, European law and international law. This thesis investigates the possibilities for the Swedish public to initiate climate change litigation against the Swedish government due to insufficient climate actions. I examine three climate change litigation approaches from selected jurisdictions, including Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. By transposing the three litigation approaches into the Swedish legal order I seek to discuss the possibilities for the public to challenge the Swedish state's responsibility in climate matters. This thesis claims that the possibilities for the concerned public to address climate change are restricted. International obligations derived from the European Convention on Human Rights and the Aarhus Convention have given individuals substantive rights and procedural rights in matters related to the environment. However, the implementation of the international obligations are not always enshrined in the national law.

Le droit à l’information environnementale du public en matière de risques industriels, par le recours aux différentes modalités d’exercice, y compris les supports de communications électroniques, paraît, de prime abord, comme étant « fonction de plusieurs variables ». Cette équation juridique consiste en effet en la mise en question de l’exercice d’un droit au regard de son objet et de ses modalités. L’hypothèse d’une évolution du droit à l’information environnementale nécessite d’analyser, au travers d’une réflexion théorique et juridique centrée sur la création et l’application du droit, l’évolution de ses droits consubstantiels, à savoir le droit d’accès à l’information du public et le droit de la participation du public au processus décisionnel. Le caractère évolutif du droit à l’information environnementale du public est appréhendé en considérant notamment les fonctions opératoires du juge dans l’exercice des droits d’accès à l’information du public et de la participation du public au processus décisionnel, et de la pluralité des modalités d’exercice de ceux-ci. La présence de certains décalages dans l’application de ces droits démontre l’évolution de l’adaptabilité du droit à l’information environnementale à son objet et à ses modalités d’exercice plutôt qu’une évolution propre à ce droit. / At first glance, the public right to environmental information on industrial hazards, by using different modes of exercise, including electronic communications, seems to be a “function of several variables”. In fact, this legal equation consists of challenging the exercise of a right with regard to its object as well as its terms. The hypothesis of evolution of the right to environmental information requires that one examines, through a theoretical and legal reflection centered on the creation and application of law, the evolution of its components, namely the right of access to information and the right to public participation in decision making. The evolving nature of the public right to environmental information is understood in particular by considering the operating functions of the judge in exercising the right of access to public information, the public participation in decision making, and the plurality of their modes of exercise. The presence of discrepancies in the application of these rights demonstrates the evolution of the adaptability of the right to environmental information with regard to its purpose and application rather than the evolution of the right itself.