Development And Periodic Review Of Environmental Law At The United Nations Environment Programme

Each of our actions, each of our decisions, has a direct link to whether the world as we know it today will survive, or succumb during the lifetime of our children. Success in combating environmental degradation is dependent on the full participation of all actors in society. One of the major challenges that legal stakeholders in developing countries and countries with economies in transition face is getting access to relevant information and material on environmental law. This publication is designed to meet that demand and serve as a source of reference of basic documents on international environmental law. Publishing Agency: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This Manual expands upon Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of MultilateralEnvironmental Agreements (MEAs). Many States participated in the developmentand negotiation of the Guidelines, which were adopted by the UNEP GoverningCouncil in 2002. While this Manual is not a negotiated document, it also is the result ofa collaborative process involving a wide range of numerous individuals around the world.These people assisted in drafting case studies and other contributions, reviewing the text,and suggesting substantive and formatting changes.

Success in tackling environmental degradation relies on the full participation of everyone in society. The judiciary is a crucial partner in promoting environmental governance, upholding the rule of law and in ensuring a fair balance between environmental, social and developmental considerations through its judgements and declarations. This publication outlines the work done by UNEP in cooperation with several partners in developing and implementing a programme to engage the judiciaries of all countries in the pursuit of the rule of law in the area of environment and sustainable development.

This report seeks to perform a comparative analysis of compliance mechanisms under selected multilateral environment agreements (MEAs). It seeks to contribute to UNEP's work on implementation mechanisms for international instruments. The report identifies strategic opportunities for interlinkages and synergies in compliance mechanisms among MEAs.