New York / Nairobi,
26 March 2012 - The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and partners have launched
a new international initiative to promote
the role of law towards achieving environmental
sustainability and the transition to a low
carbon, resource-efficient green economy.
Launched today in New
York, the World Congress on Justice, Governance
and Law for Environmental Sustainability
will focus on actions needed to overcome
the barriers that are impeding the implementation
of multilateral environmental agreements
(MEAs), such as the Convention on Biological
Diversity or the Basel Convention on Hazardous
Wastes, among others.
Such barriers include
the spreading of responsibilities for the
environment among many different institutions
at national and international levels, leading
to the fragmentation of environmental governance.
The World Congress will
examine how new legal approaches can strengthen
the effectiveness of MEAs and, overall,
advance environmental sustainability through
stronger legal responses.
The launch took place
less than three months before world governments
will meet in Brazil for the Rio+20 Conference
to map out the future course of sustainable
development. The institutional framework
for sustainable development is one of two
key themes of Rio+20, the other being the
green economy in the context of poverty
eradication and sustainable development.
The World Congress will
see Chief Justices and senior judges, Attorney-Generals
and Public Prosecutors, compliance and enforcement
officers, national auditors and legislators
from across the world come together in Rio
de Janeiro from 17-20 June 2012. The event
will be co-hosted by the Association of
Magistrates of the State of Rio de Janeiro
(AMAERJ).
Key issues to be addressed
at the four-day event will include: tackling
fragmentation of current environmental governance,
exploring relationships between human rights
law and environmental law, improving public
participation and access to justice, and
the legal dimensions of advancing human
well-being and transitioning to a green
economy.
"Some multilateral
environmental agreements (MEAs), such as
the Montreal Protocol on the Protection
of the Ozone which has catalyzed a 98% drop
in the consumption of ozone-depleting substances,
are prime examples of what can be achieved
when countries work together effectively
on agreed legal frameworks. But despite
the numerous agreements that have been negotiated
since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the
Human Environment and the 1992 Earth Summit,
only limited progress has been made towards
achieving internationally agreed sustainable
development goals," said Amina Mohamed,
Deputy Executive Director of UNEP.
"The World Congress
aims to play a vital role in highlighting
the actions needed from legal practitioners
to overcome this challenge, and promote
the transition to a low carbon, resource
efficient and socially inclusive Green Economy
founded on the rule of law and effective
governance," added Ms. Mohamed.
The Government of Brazil,
along with members of the country's judiciary
and auditing community, are supporting the
World Congress.
Organizations active
in the entire environmental legal spectrum
- from law-making to implementation and
enforcement - have also joined UNEP the
initiative. They include the World Bank,
the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) and the International Organization
of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).
The World Congress is
intended to lead to the formulation and
presentation of key guiding principles for
strengthening the role of environmental
law in achieving environmental sustainability
through the outcomes of Rio +20 and beyond.
The outcome document
from the World Congress event in Brazil
will be presented to the President of Rio+20
and to the Heads of State and other high
level representatives at Rio+20 by the Chair
of the World Congress.
Beyond Rio+20, the long-term
objective of the World Congress is to become
an important platform in strengthening environmental
laws and governance for the future national
implementation of environmental law and
policy.
The initiative will
focus on three main areas:
The Future of Environmental
Law
The World Congress will focus on the role
of environmental law in promoting the goals
of a Green Economy. Other issues to be discussed
may include the conservation and sustainable
use of natural resources in the global commons
such as the High Seas and combating transnational
environmental crime and other illegal activities
with transboundary effects.
New Approaches to Social
Justice and Environmental Sustainability
The World Congress will
discuss ways to further strengthen the operational
links between social justice, equity, environment
and development in the further development
and implementation of international and
national environmental law. New approaches
could include: more effective tools to ensure
access to information, public participation
and access to justice and the legal dimensions
of accounting for natural capital in the
context of a green economy.
Improving Effectiveness
of Environmental Governance at national,
regional and global levels
The World Congress will
deliberate on ways to overcome the fragmentation
of environmental governance. Among the measures
that are likely to be discussed are the
role of courts and the evolving environmental
jurisprudence, the requirement for effective
and implementable laws, training for a wide
range of legal practitioners, and stronger
arrangements at the global level to look
after the environmental dimension of sustainable
development.
Notes to Editors
The World Congress on
Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental
Sustainability builds on the work of the
Global Judges Symposium, which was organized
by UNEP during the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
The congress will create an even broader
and more decisive platform for national
legal stakeholders and their contributions
to environmental sustainability.
More information on
the World Congress on Justice, Governance
and Law for Environmental Sustainability
is available at: http://www.unep.org/DELC/worldcongress/
More information on UNEP's Division of Environmental
Law and Conventions is available at: http://www.unep.org/delc
Preparations for the
World Congress began with a first Preparatory
Meeting, held last year in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. A Second Preparatory Meeting will
be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from
23 - 24 April 2012, before the main event
in Brazil in June.
+ More
Global Peace Initiative
of Women Convenes Environmental Conference
in Kenya
Nairobi (Kenya) 2 March
2012. The Global Peace Initiative of Women
(GPIW), a non-governmental organization
of contemplative leaders based in the United
States, held today an environmental conference
at the headquarters of the UN Environment
Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi.
The meeting, entitled
Awakening the Healing Heart, focused on
how civil society, especially women and
religious leaders, can mobilize awareness
and action to protect the environment and
promote sustainable development.
The challenges facing
the environment today has created a new
urgency within faith communities to build
a global consciousness around sustainable
development. An international delegation
from the GPIW conference will form part
of the inter-faith component attending the
UN Conference on Sustainable Development
(Rio+20) in Brazil in June 2012.
The meeting brought
together over 300 women religious and community
leaders, environmentalists and advocates
from 28 countries and from all the major
faith traditions, including among others
H.H. Shinso Ito, head priest of Shinnyo-en,
Japan; Reverand Dr. Celestin Musekura, founder
of African Leadership and Reconciliation
Ministries, Rwanda/USA; Ms. Wang Yongchen,
founder of Green Earth Volunteers, China
and Dr. Sakeena Yacoobi, founder of the
Afghan Institute of Learning.
UN Under-Secretary General
and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner
gave the keynote address.
"We at the Global
Peace Initiative of Women are privileged
to be in Kenya with so many inspiring faith
and community leaders to assess how our
perspective can contribute to environmental
healing and provide new solutions for sustainable
development," said Reverend Joan Brown
Campbell, GPIW Chair, and former director
of the U.S. Office of the World Council
of Churches.
On Saturday, 3 March,
delegates will travel to Ol Ari Nyiro, the
Laikipia Nature Conservancy on the edge
of the Rift Valley, to craft a shared agenda
and commitment for mobilizing faith communities
to protect the environment. Bringing religious
and civil society leaders to the Rift Valley,
historically known as the cradle of civilization,
will serve as a far-reaching reminder of
what is at stake.
The Global Peace Initiative
of Women conference is organized in partnership
with the Gallmann Memorial Foundation/ Gallmann
Africa Conservancy, with support from Shinnyo-en,
the Fetzer Institute, and the Dharma Drum
Mountain Buddhist Association.
The Global Peace Initiative
of Women (www.gpiw.org)A major focus of
GPIW's work is to aid in building a global
network of contemplative leaders who through
their inner work can help transform the
causes and conditions that lead to suffering
at both the individual and collective level.
The environmental crisis has created new
urgency within faith communities to safeguard
the manifold communities of life on Earth.
The gathering in Kenya aims to amplify their
efforts and build the global consciousness
around the collective ethical and moral
responsibilities of sustainable development.
The Gallmann Africa
Conservancy (www.gallmannkenya.org) promotes
the co-existence of people and nature in
Africa by harmonizing the protection and
the creative sustainable and ecological
utilization of the natural resources. Operating
in Ol ari Nyiro, in northern Kenya, the
Conservancy aims to make Ol ari Nyiro an
example of this conservation principle.
