Compliance Committees and Recent Multilateral Environmental Agreements: The Canadian Experience with Their Negotiation and Operation

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 91-142
Author(s):  
Hugh Adsett ◽  
Anne Daniel ◽  
Masud Husain ◽  
Ted L. McDorman
Keyword(s):  
Montreal Protocol ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Basel Convention ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
Active Participant ◽  
Canadian Experience ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Cartagena Protocol ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Lrtap Convention

SummaryIn order to enhance and encourage compliance with obligations in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), states have agreed to the creation of compliance committees for all of the recent MEAs. Canada has been a strong supporter of the compliance committee experiment and an active participant in the negotiation and operation of numerous MEA compliance committees. This article does three things. First, it examines the international legal nature of the MEA compliance committees. Second, the key issues of the structure of the committees are explored. Finally, the article look at the development and operation of compliance committees pursuant to: the Montreal Protocol; the LRTAP Convention; the Espoo Convention; the Basel Convention; the Cartagena Protocol; the Rotterdam Convention; the Stockholm Convention; and the Protocol to the London Dumping Convention.

Implementation of International Environmental Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ivanova ◽  
Natalia Escobar-Pemberthy ◽  
Anna Dubrova ◽  
Candace Famiglietti
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Agreements ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
National Characteristics ◽  
University Of Massachusetts ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Technical Measures

International environmental law is a key governance instrument for the protection of the environment. Countries take on a range of obligations when they join multilateral environmental agreements. This chapter presents a comparative assessment of the implementation of international environmental law in 13 countries for four agreements dealing with pollution and conservation. It offers an empirical assessment based on the Environmental Conventions Index (ECI) developed at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and compares performance across four key categories: regulation, management, information, and technical measures. The analysis establishes a baseline for assessing the implementation of international environmental law and explaining the impact of national characteristics, policies, and actions on the fulfillment and effectiveness of international environmental agreements.

Exceptions in Multilateral Environmental Agreements

2020 ◽  
pp. 328-346
Author(s):  
James Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
Economic Values ◽  
Environmental Treaties ◽  
Environmental Objectives

When negotiating multilateral environmental agreements, it is often necessary to balance the environmental objectives of the agreement against other countervailing social or economic values, in order to ensure that all relevant states are willing to become a party to the agreement. One way in which to accommodate divergent values is through the inclusion of exceptions to the substantive treaty obligations. This chapter considers three different models for exceptions in multilateral environmental agreements: exclusions, reservations or opt-outs, and ad hoc conditional rights. The chapter also explores the oversight mechanisms that are utilized in order to prevent abuse of these exceptions in practice. The research suggests that there is a trend towards increasing scrutiny of states that take advantage of exceptions in environmental treaties, through the use of both political, independent, and judicial mechanisms.

scholarly journals Policy Integration for Sustainable Development through Multilateral Environmental Agreements

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dona Azizi ◽  
Frank Biermann ◽  
Rakhyun E. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Policy Integration ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
Environmental Policy Integration ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainability Policy ◽  
International Instruments

Abstract Over the past three decades, policy integration has become a key objective for guiding and harmonizing policies for sustainable development. Most recently, the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals have added new impetus to efforts of integrating competing objectives of environmental sustainability, social development, and economic growth, as well as of integrating issue-specific environmental policies on climate change and terrestrial and marine biodiversity. While multilateral environmental agreements are important international instruments for achieving sustainable development, there has been little focus so far on their contribution to policy integration. Covering the years from 2007 to 2016, this article presents an empirical analysis of sustainability policy integration (i.e., how multilateral environmental agreements integrate environmental, social, and economic issues in their decisions) and environmental policy integration (i.e., the outreach of multilateral environmental agreements to different environmental issue areas beyond their mandate). The analysis finds that multilateral environmental agreements have not moved toward further policy integration over the studied period. If policy and institutional coherence is a key global governance target in the post-2015 era, a concerted effort will be required to improve the extent of policy integration by multilateral environmental agreements.

Part III Conceptual Pillars, Ch.22 Good Faith

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shibata Akiho
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Environmental Cooperation ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Environmental Treaty ◽  
Legal Security

This chapter studies the principle of good faith, which has been declared by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as ‘a well-established principle of international law’. Through judicial pronouncements and state practice, it has come to acquire concrete legal content. The principle of good faith is closely linked to the concept of legal security; it provides certainty and foreseeability in society, and as such is fundamental and necessary to any legal system. The chapter examines the role that the principle of good faith could play, first, in general international law relating to the environment, focusing on three broad areas of environmental treaty performance, environmental cooperation, and due diligence. It then considers the more concrete role that the principle of good faith could play within multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) as special legal regimes. Finally, the chapter analyses two concrete contexts within which the principle of good faith could be engaged to perform specific normative functions in the operation of MEAs, namely in non-compliance and ‘pledge and review’ mechanisms.

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