|
Over the past 30 years, UNEP was significantly involved in developing
legally and non-legally binding instruments. Today, UNEP is also working
to ensure that the policies pursued under existing conventions remain
as mutually supportive as possible.
| UNEP’s efforts
to promote the development of international law include:
|
-
encourage international action to address gaps and weaknesses
in existing international environmental law
- respond
to new environmental challenges
- promote
and provide legal advisory services for the development or strengthening
of regional and global multilateral environmental agreements
- assist
governments, particularly those of developing countries and countries
with economies in transition, in the development of legal instruments
- develop
and promote the development of soft law instruments, such as codes
of conduct and guidelines
|
In particular, UNEP plays a pioneering role in the development
of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and constantly provides
support for updating conventions and developing new protocols. Conventions
and protocols are referred to as ‘hard law’
instruments; they are legally binding on States that are parties to them.
UNEP also promotes the development of non
legally-binding instruments in areas not yet covered by binding instruments.
These instruments are designed to urge governments and other actors, public
and private, to act to protect the environment on a voluntary basis. These
types of instruments are known as ‘soft law’
instruments, as they are not legally binding on States.
| UNEP
also administers the Secretariats of the following MEAs:
|
| Biodiversity
Cluster: |
|
| Chemicals
and Hazardous Wastes Cluster: |
|
|
|
