European Union Legal Framework on Permits for Mining Projects: Right to Say No of Local Communities
Recenzentas / Rewiewer |
Licencinė sutartis Nr. MRU-EDT-1021
The Master Thesis is devoted to the study of the “right to say no” by local communities to environmentally harmful projects. More precisely, the Thesis analyzed the question “Is the right of local communities to stop hazardous to human health and environmentally damaging mining projects recognized in law?” The main objectives of the Thesis were to analyze the range of human rights which can be affected by environmentally harmful projects. Moreover, the Thesis scrutinized the public participation rights in environmental decision-making as a legal instrument for the local communities to say no to mining projects that may violate their human rights. Furthermore, the Thesis analyzed whether the EU legislation on public participation rights in environmental decision-making and answers if it is sufficient to protect the human rights of local communities affected by mining projects during the energy transition in the EU. The research has shown that public participation rights in environmental decision-making, in theory, can provide the local communities with the “right to say no” to harmful development projects, such as mining. However, this depends on meeting such requirements as “early participation” and “due consideration” of the results of public participation. The EU law provides discretionary to the Member States in regard to early participation, therefore, the local communities are deprived of the “right to say no”. Besides, “due consideration” does not guarantee veto rights to the local communities. Moreover, the implementation of this requirement in EU Member States calls into question whether the community has any influence at all.