UNEP
has initiated and facilitated the negotiation and adoption
of many international legal instruments which address
major environmental issues of the day.
In Europe it has recently developed legal capacity within
its Regional Office for Europe (ROE). One of its priorities
is coordination and liaison with the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS). This priority requires the ability to understand
and respond to the legal and related institutional needs
of the CIS as well as to the other countries of Central
and Eastern Europe.
Europe and Central Asia is a region that contributes to
global environmental problems, but it also achieves global
environmental solutions. Europe has demonstrated the will
to implement and enforce global Multilateral Environmental
Agreements (MEAs), while at the same time bearing responsibility
for a large measure of pollution and encountering difficulties
reconciling environment and development.
On a regional level, concern for the environment has led
to the establishment of new regional groupings based on
shared natural resources, including the Baltic Sea, Danube
Basin, Rhine, and more recently the Black and Caspian
Seas. Affected countries have made use of regional MEAs
to create protection regimes. These regional MEAs have
varied greatly in their level of implementation and effectiveness.
Differences result in part from the re-emergence of divergent
forces shaping national priorities with respect to MEAs
among the states that were formerly part of the Eastern
Bloc.
As MEAs are based in part on baseline pollution levels,
large economic and recent social shifts may have unforeseen
consequences. Disruptions and the collapse of economies
create problems in finding resources for the implementation
of MEAs, while at the same time presenting opportunities
for more flexibility in solutions. Young countries, moreover,
such as those emerging from the breakup of the Soviet
Union and of Yugoslavia, have shown a tendency to rely
on MEAs as a point of reference in international relations.
Interest in environmental protection has re-emerged as
a priority with the result that some transition countries
are again able to self-finance their involvement in international
environmental protection regimes.
Based on government requests, ROE works increasingly with
such partners as the UN Economic Commission for Europe
(ECE), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the World
Conservation Union (IUCN), the Regional Environmental
Centre (REC) for Central and Eastern Europe, the Centre
for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and Foundation
for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD),
as well as the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the
World Bank to assist in strengthening legal and institutional
capacity in the region. |
