Issue No. 40: Fostering Legal Indicators for Sustainable Development by Michel Prieur and Mohamed Ali Mekouar.

The International Center for Comparative Environmental Law (CIDCE) has outlined an innovative methodology for the development of science-based legal indicators of effectivity. This paper illustrates their usefulness, advocating their establishment to accurately evaluate the effectivity of environmental law at national, regional and global levels, including for reviewing progress in achieving relevant SDGs. The paper explores ways to foster the use of the suggested indicators for furthering the implementation of SDGs having direct bearing on the legal protection of the environment. This entails refinements to the SDG global indicator framework, conceivably involving the addition of new indicators or the revision of current indicators with a view to advancing the realization of environment-related SDGs. States need to accurately assess the effectivity of environmental laws and treaties by means of consistent legal indicators. This can assist governments, parliaments and civil society to track progress, gaps and regressions, so as to precisely measure the extent to which existing laws and treaties are effectively implemented, and to chart the path to suitable reforms, as appropriate.