Access to Public Environmental Information in Paraguay: International Standards and Legal Framework

Abstract

This article draws on the master’s thesis Illegal Deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco, 2015–2019 (Orué Franco, 2020) and analyzes the legal framework and standards governing access to public environmental information at both the international level and within Paraguay’s domestic legal system. Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative, doctrinal-legal, and documentary approach. The sources included in the documentary corpus were selected according to criteria of thematic relevance, academic authority, temporal validity, and relevance to the research problem. The study had a descriptive-analytical scope and was delimited to the year 2019. The results show that Paraguay has a solid constitutional framework and operational mechanisms, such as Law No. 5282/2014 on Free Citizen Access to Public Information and Government Transparency and the Unified Public Information Access Portal. Nevertheless, the fragmentation of environmental obligations across different sectoral regulations and the lack of ratification of the Escazú Agreement (2018) hinder the development of an integrated system of proactive environmental transparency. The study concludes that access to information is an essential condition for environmental democracy and requires strengthening the production, updating, and proactive dissemination of environmental information.