• Law:
• Sustainability:
• Environment Law

Environment Law

International environmental agreements have mushroomed since the 1992 Earth Summit, the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and altogether, over 200 have been concluded since the 1930s.

UNCED itself adopted Agenda 21; the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and a statement of Principles on the sustainable use and management of forests. It also set in motion negotiations that led to new agreements on desertification, straddling and migratory fish stocks, and the sustainable development of small states. All of these agreements continue to evolve through further multilateral negotiations on implementation issues as well as through protocols and amendments. Meanwhile, negotiations have been concluded in new agreements in areas such as chemicals and persistent organic pollutants. Many Commonwealth developing countries, especially the Least Developed Countries and small states, lack the capacity to take part effectively in these negotiations and keep abreast of all the issues they encompass. The Secretariat provides support to help these countries overcome their constraints. Advisory work on the development of legal and policy frameworks to ensure the effective management of natural resources and the environment at the national level is detailed below.

The Secretariat's publication `LAWDevelopment: Issues of the Commonwealth' provides a quarterly review of developments in environmental law, and other concerns.

Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for Multilateral Environmental Agreements
A workshop in The Maldives (February 2005), highlighted the obligations of small states under the various environmental conventions and the need for a comprehensive regulatory framework to complement policy. The Secretariat will continue to assist member countries to identify gaps in their existing legislative arrangements through regional seminars.

The Commonwealth also sensitized land-locked and geographically disadvantaged states (Swaziland, June 2005) on the rights accorded them by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - especially on access to the sea, sharing of surplus living resources of Exclusive Economic Zones, and the deep sea bed - and encouraged them to enter into bilateral or regional arrangements with coastal states to give effect to those rights. The Secretariat will further assist landlocked states by drafting a bi-lateral/regional treaty template.

Land Policy
The Secretariat has also organised regional activities on land policy in the Pacific, Asia, Africa and Caribbean regions. The objectives of these workshops were to facilitate discussions amongst policymakers and advisers on the role of land policy in people-centred or pro-poor development; to identify challenges and constraints in implementing pro-poor land policy; to identify areas where the Commonwealth Secretariat using its comparative advantage may assist member countries in developing pro-poor land policy or in capacity building and institutional development; and to consider and recommend the establishment of a regional consultative group on land issues in the context of pro-poor development.