Environmental policy making at the international, regional, and national levels has generally approached problems in a case-by-case manner, addressing individual problems as they arose. This has led to a substantial increase in the number and scope of MEAs, each one addressing a separate issue, and to a growing number of international and national institutions. Since most environmental issues are rarely isolated from other issues, environmental and otherwise, there is the potential for both synergy and uncertainty.
This Guideline recommends that States considering any new legally binding instrument take into account the need to avoid overlaps with existing MEAs. In addition, the guideline suggests that, when States are contemplating the negotiation of a new legally binding instrument, they encourage synergies with existing MEAs that address related issues.
In negotiations for a number of recent MEAs, negotiators often received a background paper that set forth the relevant international legal instruments in existence and the potential impliciations. This was the case, for example, for the “chemical conventions” that include the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC).
Thus, when States decided to negotiate new MEAs addressing persistent organic pollutants and prior informed consent on the importation of certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides, negotiators considered how the new agreements would relate to the existing Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. While the Basel Convention primarily addresses wastes, and the other two topics did not necessarily address wastes, there were some overlaps and synergies. By taking into consideration the Basel Convention, the negotiators were able to facilitate what has become a relatively collegial relationship between the Stockholm Convention (on POPs), the Rotterdam Convention (on PIC), and the Basel Convention.
MEAs often are “living” documents. Once they are adopted, there is an ongoing discussion among the Parties — as well as other interested institutions — to determine whether implementation is taking place as expected, to exchange experiences, to assess progress toward the stated goals of the agreement, and to identify successes and outstanding gaps. Many of these discussions take place at the Conferences of the Parties (COPs) and Meetings of the Parties (MOPs). At most COPs and MOPs, there are negotiations regarding the Agreement. The negotiations generally do not re-open the commitments that Parties have made. In most instances the negotiations relate to administrative aspects of implementation or to unresolved issues. This can lead, for example, to decisions or resolutions of the COP or MOP. The negotiations can also lead to new MEAs, such as the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, which is a protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In such negotiations, this Guideline encourages negotiators to consider how the ongoing negotiations relate to existing MEAs and to promote synergies.