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Sustainable development is development that takes care of the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to also meet their needs. This is an ideal that is cherished globally and has been embraced by the Swaziland government becoming a Party to international conventions and treaties. For any development to be sustainable it has to strive for a balance between environment, social and economic considerations. It is important that the public participates in decision making on development initiatives and discussions including but not limited to national budget, proposed investments, national economic performance, etc. For the public to participate meaningfully information should be freely accessible.

Why is access to environmental information important?
Access to environmental information is important because people want and need to make choices that affect their well being like the quality of the air they breathe, the purity of the water they drink, and so on. Environmental information can be of great urgency and importance or it may be crucial to daily decisions or for long-term policies. Information about emergency situations and risks enables people to protect their health or environment during events such as cholera outbreak or a disaster at an industrial plant. 

 It can be used to protect human lives, biodiversity and the environment in urgent situations. Industries like SAPPI Usuthu now and again have "accidental spills"  which means their effluent finds its way into the river in large quantities and in an untreated state. This tempers with the quality of the river water to the point that there are fish kills. In such urgent situations information needs to be communicated to other users of the river so they weigh their options on whether or not to use the river. The information should include advice on the possible consequences of using the contaminated river to humans, livestock, and crops.

Legal framework supporting access to information
It is important that the legal framework guarantee access to information and not depends on the generosity and benevolence of industries and or bureaucrats. Public access to environmental information urges better environmental performance. It is a powerful motivation for improved environmental performance by industry. Swaziland has like many countries that subscribe to the Rio principles enacted national legislation that guarantees availability and public access to environmental information. Principle 10 

The Swaziland Environmental Management Act of 2002 makes stringent provision for the public to access information. It places a duty on the Swaziland Environment Authority to compile a comprehensive state of the environment report (SoE) that is to be updated periodically. This is an important tool for the public to know what is in the water, air, land, etc and where is it coming from and what are the likely impacts on human lives and biodiversity. The Act further provides for a registry to be kept within the Authority where the public can access information on whom and which projects have applied for environmental compliance certificates and which projects have been granted.

Players in ensuring public access to information
Within the legislation mentioned above there is a lot of reliance and faith in the role of the media in getting information to the public. Where there is mention of public participation there is also mention of notices in the print and electronic media for inviting the public. This underscores the reality within our country that the media reaches out to a wider and diverse cross section of society over and above the government communication systems. It is thus important that the media as part of civil society reports freely without fear and or favor. Civil society also has an important role in taking information to the people and also feeding back to the government. 

There are tools for assessing access to information in any setting and these together with other reasons why environmental information should be accessible will be discussed in future. 

Sustainable development is development that takes care of the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to also meet their needs. This is an ideal that is cherished globally and has been embraced by the Swaziland government becoming a Party to international conventions and treaties. For any development to be sustainable it has to strive for a balance between environment, social and economic considerations. It is important that the public participates in decision making on development initiatives and discussions including but not limited to national budget, proposed investments, national economic performance, etc. For the public to participate meaningfully information should be freely accessible.

Why is access to environmental information important?
Access to environmental information is important because people want and need to make choices that affect their well being like the quality of the air they breathe, the purity of the water they drink, and so on. Environmental information can be of great urgency and importance or it may be crucial to daily decisions or for long-term policies. Information about emergency situations and risks enables people to protect their health or environment during events such as cholera outbreak or a disaster at an industrial plant. 

 It can be used to protect human lives, biodiversity and the environment in urgent situations. Industries like SAPPI Usuthu now and again have "accidental spills" which means their effluent finds its way into the river in large quantities and in an untreated state. This tempers with the quality of the river water to the point that there are fish kills. In such urgent situations information needs to be communicated to other users of the river so they weigh their options on whether or not to use the river. The information should include advice on the possible consequences of using the contaminated river to humans, livestock, and crops.

Legal framework supporting access to information
It is important that the legal framework guarantee access to information and not depends on the generosity and benevolence of industries and or bureaucrats. Public access to environmental information urges better environmental performance. It is a powerful motivation for improved environmental performance by industry. Swaziland has like many countries that subscribe to the Rio principles enacted national legislation that guarantees availability and public access to environmental information. Principle 10 

The Swaziland Environmental Management Act of 2002 makes stringent provision for the public to access information. It places a duty on the Swaziland Environment Authority to compile a comprehensive state of the environment report (SoE) that is to be updated periodically. This is an important tool for the public to know what is in the water, air, land, etc and where is it coming from and what are the likely impacts on human lives and biodiversity. The Act further provides for a registry to be kept within the Authority where the public can access information on whom and which projects have applied for environmental compliance certificates and which projects have been granted.

Players in ensuring public access to information
Within the legislation mentioned above there is a lot of reliance and faith in the role of the media in getting information to the public. Where there is mention of public participation there is also mention of notices in the print and electronic media for inviting the public. This underscores the reality within our country that the media reaches out to a wider and diverse cross section of society over and above the government communication systems. It is thus important that the media as part of civil society reports freely without fear and or favor. Civil society also has an important role in taking information to the people and also feeding back to the government. 

There are tools for assessing access to information in any setting and these together with other reasons why environmental information should be accessible will be discussed in future.