Backgrounder on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002
Enhancing Compliance and Strengthening Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)

February 22, 2002—The international community is faced today with the responsibility of implementing and enforcing more than 500 MEAs, of which approximately 300 are regional, and nearly 60 per cent have been in existence only since the Stockholm Conference in 1972.1

This growing body of MEAs suffers from the inability or unwillingness of Parties (many of which are developing countries or countries in transition) to implement and enforce them. While each Party faces its own unique challenges, implementation and enforcement are often made difficult by a lack of financial and human resources, the sheer volume and complexity of associated obligations and responsibilities, inconsistency in implementation regimes between countries, and occasionally a lack of political will.

For instance, of the 154 Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 76 are believed generally not to meet one or more of the requirements for implementing CITES.2 These Parties still need to adopt or strengthen their legislative, regulatory and institutional measures to implement the Convention adequately. Unless strong legislative bases are developed (consisting of four domestic legislative measures under CITES), this MEA is likely to fail. This situation is generally indicative of MEA compliance and enforcement, and is unacceptable if we hope to leave a positive environmental legacy for the world's future generations.

All countries must work -- individually and cooperatively -- to strengthen and coordinate the implementation, compliance and enforcement of MEAs at the national level and to build partnerships among governments and civil society to address insufficient human and financial resources. Moreover, industrialized countries should work with developing countries, and countries in transition to ensure adequate and transparent financial resources, as well as access to technical expertise and training to develop necessary knowledge and skills.

Actions the U.S. Government should take at WSSD and beyond

• Strengthen national institutions responsible for the implementation and enforcement of MEAs and more generally for the three pillars (economic, social, environmental) of sustainable development.
• Stress the concept of good governance (including transparent and non-corrupt democratic institutions and processes) as one of the vital foundations for sound environmental management and for the achievement of sustainable development.
• Endorse and assist in implementing UNEP's Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recommendation.3
• Advocate at WSSD and beyond that enforcement of and compliance with MEAs must be a priority for the 21st century as the world moves forward to achieve sustainable development.
• Take a leadership role at WSSD and beyond, and back up this leadership by ratifying major environmental treaties including the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste, the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Biosafety Protocol, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (PIC Convention), the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species and the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.
• Encourage an appropriate division of labor and competencies between MEAs and the WTO, and affirm that both systems should support the three pillars - social, environmental and economic - of sustainable development. They should reaffirm that, in the first instance, MEAs are the preferable institution for defining trade-related environmental measures and for resolving conflicts regarding their use.
• Affirm that MEAs and the WTO are equal bodies of law, and that trade measures pursuant to MEAs are consistent with WTO rules. Governments should identify mechanisms to ensure that trade liberalization is accompanied in parallel by effective strengthening of environmental governance, at both the national and international levels.4
• Strengthen unilateral and multilateral funding mechanisms, so that they are stable, predictable and adequate. This is a prerequisite for improved international environmental governance.
• Enhance synergies and linkages between MEAs, as well as between MEAs and other environmental bodies, in order to implement capacity-building programs related to the development of national legislation that supports the implementation of conventions and protocols.

• Sponsor regional and sub-regional workshops that aim to share information and experiences, develop national legislation and regulations, and train customs officials and other government entities in enforcement processes and methods, as well as develop cost-effective and long-term training programs through the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) 5 and other such organizations.

1. Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Summary (UNEP/IGM/1/INF/1). March 30, 2001. Background paper presented by the Secretariat at the Open-ended Intergovernmental Group of Ministers or their Representatives on International Environmental Governance, first meeting.
New York, 18 April 2001. Available at http:// http://www.unep.org/IEG/WorkingDocuments.asp.
2. See http:// www.cites.org
3. Guidelines on Compliance with and Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements. February 9, 2001. Available at http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=67.
4. WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Toward Coherent Environmental and Economic Governance: Legal and Practical Approaches to MEA-WTO Linkages, A WWF-CIEL Discussion Paper, October 2001, available at http://www.ciel.org.
5. See International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) website at http://www.inece.org.

Contacts

Fred O'Regan, President
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
(508) 744-2121

Erin Heskett, Deputy Director
Wildlife and Habitat Program
IFAW
(508) 744-2192

Durwood Zaelke, President
Center for International Environmental Law
(202) 785-8700

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Attorney
Center for International Environmental Law
(202) 785-8700

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