The importance of public participation in
environmental decision-making has been recognised at both
national and international level with plethora of high-level
pronouncements and public exhortations to support the
involvement of affected parties in decision-making process.
At international level, the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio in 1992 (UNCED or
the ‘Earth Summit’) emphasized the need for public
involvement in the design and implementation of all sorts of
environmental policy.