Joensuu campus, Finland, 16 August 2010 - The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the University of Eastern Finland are jointly organizing a high profile two-week course on multilateral environmental agreements.

The course, which lasts from 15 to 27 August, transfers past experience in the field of international environmental law to current and future negotiators of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). In addition, the course provides a forum to foster North-South cooperation and to take stock of recent developments in negotiations as well as in implementation of MEAs and diplomatic practices in the international environmental arena

The special theme of this year’s course is Climate Change. Under that theme, a broad range of subjects will be addressed. In addition, general issues relating to international environmental law-making and diplomacy will be dealt with.

This is the seventh year in which the course will run and – as in previous years – the lectures are given by experienced hands-on diplomats, national and international civil servants and members of academia.

The course, which uses interactive tools such as, a two-day negotiation simulation exercise, is intended for experienced government officials engaged in international environmental negotiations, and these make up the majority of the participants. Other participants include representatives of non-governmental organizations and the private sector, researchers and academics in the field of international environmental law.

This year 33 participants come from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America, with an equal distribution from the North and South hemispheres. Over the last seven years, 244 participants from 101 different countries have completed the course. The previous courses have been held in Joensuu, Finland, the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, and in Nairobi, Kenya. The special themes of the previous courses have been water, forests, biodiversity, chemicals, oceans and environmental governance.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Kilaparti Ramakrishna, Senior Advisor, Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, UNEP (Kilaparti.Ramakrishna@unep.org)
Mr. Marko Berglund, Programme Officer, UNEP (Marko.Berglund@unep.org)

Professor Tuomas Kuokkanen, University of Eastern Finland (Tuomas.Kuokkanen@uef.fi)

http://www.joensuu.fi/unep/envlaw
http://www.unep.org/training