Other UNEP activities on Cross Cutting issues
1. Assessments, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA)
- As part of the GEO-2000 process, DEWA commissioned a comprehensive study on reporting and review provisions in ten MEAs, including CBD, CITES, CMS and Basel. The title of the study published in 2002 is Reporting and Review Institutions in 10 Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
- Following the launch of GEO-3, DEWA is currently researching and will publish in collaboration with DELC by end of October 2003 a booklet on synergies among the various MEAs, particularly those administered by UNEP. CBD, CITES, CMS, Basel and other MEAs will be covered in this report.
- Occasional Database/GIS/mapping et al. Support and technical advice on website development to such MEAs as the Basel Convention, CITES and CMS.
2. Cleaner Production, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE)
Integrating Cleaner Production and Multilateral Environmental Agreements has been a major topic in the Sixth and Seventh International High Level Seminar on Cleaner Production.
A number of Conventions have identified preventive strategies as a means to tackle the issue under the convention. For example, Basel Convention has laid great emphasis on prevention of hazardous waste. UNFCC also lays importance on improvement of energy efficiency to reduce GHG emissions. The National Cleaner Production Centres have been working towards greater adoption of preventive strategies. Accordingly, it would be appropriate to bring about a close synergy between MEAs and Cleaner Production by building capacity in NCPCs in understanding MEAs and applying Cleaner Production principles in implementation of MEAs. UNEP, in partnership with UNIDO and InWENT (erstwhile CDG) developed a training package on Cleaner Production-MEA integration. A training programme was conducted in September 2002, which was attended by representatives from 16 NCPCs. Further, national follow-up training has since been conducted in 10 countries. The training is available on the web.
- Energy and P&C branch are implementing a GEF sponsored project aimed at building capacity in six NCPCs (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, China, India and Vietnam) in implementing energy efficiency by integrating it in Cleaner Production assessment. A training manual has been developed and representatives of above NCPCs and their allies were trained in the subject in a 2-week training programme held in February 2002. The NCPCs are now carrying out demonstration projects. It is expected that by the end of the project about 90 demonstration projects will be carrying showing a reduction of about 225,000 tons of GHG emissions.
3. WTO: Enhancing synergies and mutual supportiveness, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE)
- Since June 1999 UNEP has been facilitating a process of meetings and joint analysis between MEA and WTO Secretariats, with the aim of enhancing the mutual supportiveness of these legal regimes. Six meetings involving governments and NGOs and substantial number of secretariat-to-secretariat meetings have been organized since then. A number of background papers have been prepared for those meetings, and as well as two more widely circulated documents on ‘Compliance and Dispute Settlement Provisions in the WTO and MEAs’, authored jointly with the WTO and MEAs (June 2001) and ‘Enhancing Synergies and Mutual Supportiveness of MEAs and the WTO’, produced by UNEP (January 2002).
- The MEA Secretariats most engaged in this process have been the Basel Convention, the CBD, CITES, the Montreal Protocol and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- From the Interim Secretariats of the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and from the Secretariat of the Straddling Fish Stocks Agreement have also participated in these meetings and contributed to the analysis. UNEP and the MEA Secretariats have also participated together in some WTO regional seminars on trade and environment, so as to jointly enhance the input from relevant environmental bodies to these WTO technical cooperation activities.
- Since the start of formal WTO negotiations on the relationship between this body’s rules and ‘specific trade obligations’ in MEAs, and on information exchange and observer status, UNEP has been facilitating MEAs input to those negotiations. The last of the six meetings involving governments mentioned above was held back-to-back with the November 2002 Information Session of the WTO body undertaking negotiations on this relationship (the Special Session of the Committee on Trade and Environment - CTESS). The background papers and Chairman’s Summary for the UNEP meeting were fed into the subsequent WTO negotiations.
- Since the start of those negotiations in November 2001, UNEP has also facilitated further informal meetings aimed at securing observer status for the relevant MEAs and UNEP in the CTESS. Ad hoc invitee status was granted for the first five MEAs mentioned above in time for the May 2003 CTESS. UNEP is continuing its collaboration with MEA and WTO Secretariats, and organizing informal meetings jointly with MEAs with trade officials representing WTO members, with the aim of consolidating this access and opportunity to inform WTO negotiations.
4. Economic instruments in MEAs, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE)
In close collaboration with MEA Secretariats UNEP has been examining the potential role of economic instruments to assist in the national-level implementation of biodiversity-related MEAs. The work is being undertaken with special, but not exclusive, reference to the CBD, CITES and RAMSAR. Through analysis and review meetings UNEP and the MEAs are exploring the potential synergies and actual cooperation between biodiversity-related MEAs. Economic instruments can help achieve sustainability, by providing cost-efficient means of achieving environmental as well as economic and social goals, in the context of MEA implementation. The application of economic instruments is currently being discussed in MEA COPs, for this reason, most recently in COP 12 of CITES in Santiago de Chile last November. Economic instruments may also offer opportunities to implement international trade and environment obligations in a mutually supportive manner, which is of particular relevance also to the ongoing WTO negotiations on the WTO-MEA relationship, noted above.
5. Compliance and Enforcement, carried our by UNEP’s Division of Policy Implementation
DEPI has organized a series of Workshops have taken place in different regions seeking feedback on the draft Manual on UNEP Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements as follows:
- Asia-Pacific Regional Workshop on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements 14-19 September 2003, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- English-speaking Caribbean Regional Workshop on Compliance with and Enforcement of MEAs, 20-23 October 2003, Kingston, Jamaica.
- South East Europe Regional Workshop on Compliance with and Enforcement of MEAs; 26-29 January 2004, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.
- More workshops are scheduled as follows:
- Anglophone African Regional Workshop on Compliance with and Enforcement of MEAs; 1- 4 March 2004.– Nairobi, Kenya,
- New Independent States Workshop on Compliance with and Enforcement of MEAs; 22-25 March 2004, Kiev, Ukraine.
6. Harmonization projects for national reporting, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Environmental Conventions
DEC along with UNEP-WCMC is facilitating pilot projects in four countries (Ghana, Indonesia, Panama and Seychelles) to test information management and harmonization concepts in the context of the national reporting to the five global biodiversity-related conventions (CBD, CITES, CMS, Ramsar and WHC). The special focus is on institutional co-ordination mechanisms and interlinkages at national and international levels.
7. Capacity building initiatives, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Environmental Conventions
UNEP has under taken a major initiative to train customs officials with the Secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements that have trade provisions, such as the Basel Convention, CITES, and the Montreal Protocol in co-operation with the World Customs Organization, at both the national and regional levels. Customs officer training is also anticipated to be an important element of the national implementation of the Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention once they enter into force.
8. Synthesis Reports, carried out by UNEP’s Division of Environmental Conventions
Along with DEWA DEC is producing a special synthesis report bringing together the main implications of the Third Report of the Global Environmental Outlook for the 5 main MEA clusters. The audience includes key party actors in MEAs as well as the Secretariats. UNEP has also published a booklet on ‘Conventions and Corals’, detailing the interests of about 20 MEAs and related organizations in coral reefs.