A/HRC/43/53/Add.1 A. Access to information 34. The Environment Management Act requires that a national state of the environment report be published every five years. The most recent report, from 2014, provides a comprehensive and even-handed assessment, complete with useful recommendations. The next state of the environment report should be published in 2019. In 2016, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services published an excellent report on environmental influences on human health. There is also a prodigious amount of information on the climate change policies and plans of Fiji, available on the website of the Ministry of Economy. 35. Although there is abundant information available about the state of the environment in Fiji and the Government’s plans and policies for addressing environmental problems, there are some important gaps. The website of the Department of Environment contains little detailed information, especially regarding environmental quality, environmental assessments, an environmental tribunal, and the implementation and enforcement of the many laws and regulations for which it is responsible. These gaps can pose a significant barrier to public participation in environmental decision-making. B. Public participation in environmental decision-making 36. The Special Rapporteur received conflicting information about the extent to which the public is given meaningful opportunities to participate in environmental decisionmaking. On one hand, the Government described extensive efforts to engage the public through various processes. For example, notices are published in national newspapers about upcoming consultations on proposed developments. On the other hand, civil society organizations, citizens and some iTaukei landowners with whom the Special Rapporteur met expressed concerns about their inability to gain easy, timely and affordable access to important information, to participate meaningfully and to have their concerns addressed. Examples cited include proposed mining projects, the raising of the Wainisavulevu weir in Naitasiri, and industrial developments in the Draunibota Bay area. 37. The main example of this conflict relates to environmental impact assessments. States have an obligation to conduct environmental impact assessments, and to do so with meaningful public participation. The Department of Environment oversees the environmental impact assessment process, applying a regulation established pursuant to the Environment Management Act. For any development with potentially significant environmental impacts, the project developer must host at least one public meeting during the environmental impact assessment process and one public consultation after the environmental impact assessment report has been prepared. The Department of Environment must maintain a public register that makes environmental impact assessment reports and approvals (including conditions) available for inspection and copying. Citizens, civil society organizations and some iTaukei landowners expressed concern about difficulties gaining access to information on environmental impact assessments, the poor quality of some environmental impact assessment reports and the lack of access to remedies. The Government has prescribed a fee of about F$ 5 per page for environmental impact assessment documents. This fee is clearly excessive and should be waived for individuals and groups seeking to protect the environment and human rights. It would be preferable to make documents available in PDF form, free of charge, through an online registry. C. Access to justice and effective remedies 38. Concerns were also raised about a lack of access to remedies. While interested parties have the ability to file lawsuits in the High Court of Fiji to challenge decisions with adverse environmental consequences that may not comply with the law, this approach is complex, expensive and time-consuming. As a simpler and more expeditious alternative, the Environment Management Act provides for the appointment of an environmental tribunal that can hear appeals from certain administrative decisions. Rules governing the tribunal were published in 2013 and apparently three cases have been referred to it. However, there is little publicly available information regarding the tribunal’s members, procedures or decisions, making the process opaque and inaccessible. 8