On the eve of a precedent-setting negotiation, 15 UN human rights experts joined to express their strong support for the efforts by governments in Latin America and the Caribbean to agree on a regional instrument on rights of access to information, participation, and justice in environmental matters. This negotiation, which will resume 27-29 October in Panama City, is one of the most important steps ever taken to protect and promote environmental democracy at the international level, and it will provide a model for such steps in other regions and countries. The experts encouraged the negotiators to adopt an instrument in the form of a legally binding treaty. The full statement is available here.