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Timely environmental information empowers all stakeholders to act on climate change.
Photo:UNESCO

Ensuring Access to Environmental Information in the Digital Age

The theme for the 2025 observance focuses on the vital importance of timely, comprehensive, and cross-border access to environmental information in an increasingly digital world. 

Environmental data, encompassing climate change, pollution, biodiversity, and disaster risks, transcends national borders, necessitating collaborative, transparent, and innovative global sharing of information. Access to information is particularly important for populations at risk of environmental disaster due to climate change. This theme also highlights how digital technologies and open data platforms can enhance public access, foster transparency, and empower citizens and stakeholders to participate meaningfully in environmental governance and sustainable development.

Universal access to information is foundational for transparent, participatory, and accountable governance. Access to environmental information is crucial in this context. It is deeply linked to international environmental governance frameworks such as the Paris Agreement (2015) and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992). These international instruments provide a legal and normative foundation supporting citizens’ rights to know and enabling governments to uphold accountability in environmental policies.

Read more in the Concept note

2024 UNESCO Survey on Public Access to Information

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UNESCO reports on progress on the adoption and the implementation of Access to Information Laws. The UNESCO Survey on Public Access to Information has proven to be useful for countries as they can track progress in implementing SDG 16.10.2.

Report

 

Access to information

Informed citizens can make informed decisions, for instance, when going to the polls. Only when citizens know how they are governed, can they hold their governments accountable for their decisions and actions. Information is power. Therefore, universal access to information is a cornerstone of healthy and inclusive knowledge societies.

Universal access to information means that everyone has the right to seek, receive and impart information. This right is an integral part of the right to freedom of expression. The media plays a crucial role in informing the public about issues of interest, but it relies on the ability to seek and receive information, too. Hence, the right to universal access to information is also bound up with the right to freedom of the press.

Background

On 17 November 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 28 September as International Day for Universal Access to Information. Considering that several civil society organizations and government bodies in the world have adopted and currently celebrate this observance, the UN General Assembly also adopted 28 September 2019 as the International Day for Universal Access to Information.

UNESCO and its intergovernmental programs - the International Programme for Development of Communication and the Information for All Programme - provide a platform and frame for all the stakeholders to participate in international discussions on policy and guidelines in the area of access to information. Both programs also enable positive environment for ATI to flourish through the development of projects aimed to strengthen open science, multilingualism, ICTs for disabled and marginalized, and media and information literacy.

Global Conference on Universal Access to Information 2025

29–30 September 2025

Hosted in Manila by UNESCO and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, this landmark event marks the 10th anniversary of the designation of 28 September as the International Day for Universal Access to Information, reflecting a decade of progress and challenges in the right to information worldwide. 

Programme
Register

Resources

Related Websites

Documents

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The UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) provides support for media projects and seeks an accord to secure a healthy environment for the growth of free and pluralistic media in developing countries. The IPDC strives to realize more effective media projects that empower people to gain equitable access to knowledge and express themselves through free and pluralistic media. 

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Inclusive Knowledge Societies are the way forward, as they build on the sum of human ingenuity, technical innovation and the power of information and knowledge. They have the potential to take us all forward to a new era of peace and sustainable development.  UNESCO’s work contributes to SDG 16 by promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, ensuring public access to information and protecting fundamental freedoms.

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International days and weeks are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity. The existence of international days predates the establishment of the United Nations, but the UN has embraced them as a powerful advocacy tool. We also mark other UN observances.