UNEP Hosts Global Environmental Law and Policy Training

Nairobi, 10 November 2009 - The planet is facing growing environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation and biodiversity loss - and the environmental laws and policies to combat these challenges are transforming fast.

To help Governments come to terms with these developments, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) invited 70 government officials from the Ministries of Environment from over 60 countries to its headquarters in Nairobi for the International Training Programme in Environmental Law and Policy from 2 to 13 November.

Noting that there are over 500 articles of environmental legislation, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said environmental laws are formulated to inform natural resource management for sustainable development and to avert the greater risk of undermining the assets that people, economies and development paths depend on.

He also emphasized the need for a shift in the paradigm of environmental law from that of policing and restrictive agenda to one enabling a transition to a green economy.

The ninth edition of the biennial training programme, started in 1993, will give the Government officers a broader understanding of the application of environmental law in combating environmental challenges - from desertification in Niger to rising sea levels in the Maldives, and from deforestation in Nepal to fragile ecosystems encroachment in Uganda.

Full Release