Geneva - After decades of developing
environmental treaties, protocols and other multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs), the international
community is turning its attention to ensuring
that these instruments are complied with and enforced.
The need for this new focus is clear: many countries
are struggling to implement their environmental
commitments under the numerous agreements to which
they are party. Where do they start? Are there
more efficient and effective ways to implement
MEAs? How can they be fully implemented with limited
resources?
To assist countries in addressing
the many challenges facing them, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) has produced a “Manual
on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral
Environmental Agreements”. This Manual is being
launched today in Geneva on the occasion of festivities
to commemorate World Environment Day 2006.
This new Manual builds on UNEP’s
ongoing efforts to strengthen the capacity of
governments to implement and enforce MEAs and
to comply with environmental law more broadly.
It seeks to facilitate the use and application
of the “Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement
of Multilateral Environmental Agreements”. These
Guidelines were developed by UNEP with the cooperation
of Governments and many other stakeholders and
approved by UNEP’s Governing Council when it met
in Cartagena, Colombia in February 2002.
The Manual complements the Guidelines
by providing specific examples from around the
world on how governments, NGOs, the private sector,
and other institutions have utilized the various
approaches to ensuring compliance and enforcement.
It also sets out more detailed explanations, checklists
and additional resources as a way of providing
more depth to the specific approaches.
The Manual can serve as a reference
tool and guide for a wide audience of stakeholders
who have a role in ensuring the effective implementation
of MEAs. These include treaty negotiators, decision-makers,
legal practitioners, police, customs officers,
researchers, and legal drafters in governmental,
non-governmental, academic, and professional institutions,
to mention but a few. Fully searchable on-line
and CD-ROM versions will be added in the near
future to expand the Manual’s practical value
and appeal.
