ENE 320 / GOV 320: International Environmental Law

Links to news items, conferences, reports, and more.

Part of UNEP, this resource provides environmental data and information for decision-making and policy setting; underpins UNEP's ongoing review of environmental state and trends; and provides early warnings about emerging environmental problems and threats.

Launched in 2011, C2ES is the successor to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, long recognized in the United States and abroad as an influential and pragmatic voice on climate issues.

Includes information about the Convention, its parties, protocols, and activities.

This is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.

A report issued in October 2018 on the impacts of global warming.

On 29 October 2010, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) to the Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted in Nagoya, Japan. The Protocol entered into force on 12 October 2014 thus marking an important step towards the Implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The objective of the Nagoya Protocol is to set an international, legally binding framework to promote a transparent and effective implementation of the ABS concept at the regional, national and local level in the future.

This is a 4-page quick guide to the Protocol.

If you want to know everything about the Protocol, this long document (394 p.) is for you!. In this publication, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre and the IUCN Global Policy Unit present the results of a one-and-a-half year process of co-operation and consultation during which an Explanatory Guide to the Nagoya Protocol was developed.