Overview
Access to information is essential for the exercise of environmental rights and is regulated in South Africa through the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act 2 of 2000) (PAIA). PAIA was designed to enable citizens to access information from private and public bodies through a simple procedure.
The CER has, since its establishment in 2010, advocated for greater transparency in environmental governance and for swift and easy access to environmental information. In particular, we have campaigned for automatically available, online public licence registers. We also monitor compliance with PAIA and put pressure on regulators and companies for greater disclosure of all information required for citizens to ensure that our Constitutional right to a healthy environment is upheld.
We are a member of the Access to Information Network, which is a network of civil society organisations that cooperate to achieve the common objective of advancing access to information rights for ordinary people in South Africa.