United Nations Environment Programme

In developing a National Implementation Plan for a specific MEA, a State may wish to:

• Identify the relevant governmental and non-governmental stakeholders with an interest in the MEA. These stakeholders should include anyone who is affected by or is otherwise interested in the MEA or its implementation.
• In a broad, participatory, and transparent manner – with the relevant governmental agencies, Ministries, and authorities, as well as the relevant stakeholders – discuss the requirements of the MEA and what measures may be necessary to implement it.
  • These stakeholders should be engaged early in the process, while options are still open, to identify and respond to potential challenges and to build broad ownership of the final plan.
• Identify the requirements, obligations, and rights of an MEA. These may be specific or general, mandatory or advisory, and often include a combination of such requirements.
  • Developing countries should pay attention to whether and to what extend the MEA recognizes the particular needs and contexts of developing countries.
  • Determine whether developing countries can modify these obligations (including providing for longer timeframes to come into compliance) if necessary to account for economic, social, and other needs.
• Identify the resources available to assist in implementing the MEA. These resources can relate to legal, policy, scientific, technical, educational, financial, and other aspects of implementation. Personnel resources can include local and foreign experts in Government, the private sector, NGOs, and universities, as well as experts in international organizations.
  • In particular, States should identify the types of assistance (financial, technical, advisory, etc.) that might be available through the Secretariat, COP, or other MEA-based body. This can include funding mechanisms, technology transfer, etc.
  • After identifying these resources, ensure that the State accesses (or tries to access) all the financial and technical resources that may be available.
• Assess the likely impacts of the MEA on economic growth, development, investment, and international trade.
• Assess the likely impacts of the MEA in catalyzing or strengthening domestic
• national and local) environmental protection and management initiatives.
• Identify the existing national and sub-national legal, policy, and institutional frameworks that relate to the MEA. In addition to the obvious frameworks, a particular MEA may well touch on other sectors, such as transportation, energy, land use, industries, etc.
• Identify potential barriers to effective implementation. These may be legal, policy, and institutional, as well as cultural, religious, or social.
• With reference to the potential barriers, identify potential mandatory (“command-and-control”) and voluntary (e.g., market-based) mechanisms that could facilitate implementation.
• Identify potential projects to build governmental, private sector, and civil society capacity for the State to come into compliance.

This Checklist builds upon a similar checklist in the 1999 CARICOM Guidelines for MEA Implementation.