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INTERNATIONAL UN/UNEP CONVENTIONS FOR ENVIRONMENT
 

International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling 1946

  • In 1982 moratorium on Whaling.

CITES, the Convention on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 1975

  • Bans commercial international trade in an agreed list of endangered species

Convention on the Control of transboundary Movements of hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Basle 1989

Barcelona Convention for the Mediterranean.

Cartagena Convention for the Wider Caribbean 1988

Law of the Sea Convention 1982

  • Now Third UN Law of the Sea Conference.

London Dumping Convention 1991 London Dumping Convention 1991

  • Now Third UN Law of the Sea Conference. Includes phrase
    "the capacity of the sea to assimilate wastes and render them harmless...is not unlimited"

Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic 1992.Oslo Convention on Reduction and Dumping of Wastes in the North Sea

Attempts to address issues on a regional holistic scale in the context of the environmental system itself - North Sea

Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic 1992.

Oslo Convention on Reduction and Dumping of Wastes in the North Sea

Attempts to address issues on a regional holistic scale in the context of the environmental system itself - North Sea

Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer (Vienna Convention) 1985.

  • Gave rise to the Montreal Protocol 1987. Article 5 states that while accepting the general obligation to reduce emissions of ozone depleting substances, those developing countries who met designated criteria are allowed to delay their compliance with control measures for ten years. Amended London 1990 and Copenhagen 1992.

Convention on Biological Diversity, Rio 1992

Convention on Climate Change, Rio 1992

  • Introduced the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility".

Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area 1992. (Seawater)

Helsinki Convention on the Protection and Use of transboundary Watercourses and Lakes 1992 (Freshwater)

Maastricht treaty on European Union 1992.

  • Under European Community law the responsibility for enforcement of community environmental obligations has been taken away from inter state and placed on European Court of Justice. This treaty introduces financial penalties for member states who do not comply with community law - of which environment law is seen as the most significant. This is despite "subsidiarity".

Convention Combating Desertification 1994

  • This seeks to reduce the spread of degraded soils throughout the world.

Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Rotterdam 1998

  • Provisions whereby any importing country should be told whether the substance has been banned, withdrawn or severely restricted in their country of origin, and then give express consent be given before shipment. The UN produces "The Consolidated List of Products whose consumption or sale have been Banned, Restricted or Withdrawn by governments".

To find out more about any convention - whether global or regional go to Environmental treaties and Resource Indicators hosted at Columbia University. You can find out from this web site who has signed up to what. You can also put in key words and find all the conventions that involve those words.

The UN does not have a treaty on Forest Principles

Examples of Declarations/Guidelines:

Principles of Shared Natural Resources 1978

Guidelines on the Protection of Marine Environment against Land-based Pollution, Montreal 1985

Goals and Principles on Environmental Impact Assessment, Nairobi 1987.

Hague Declaration on the Protection of the North Sea 1990 (and its predecessors of bremen 1984 and London 1987)

IMO (Int. Maritime Organisation): Guidelines for the Designation of Special Areas and the Identification of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas. 1991

ILO (International Labour Organisation) issues recommended threshold levels of substances in workplace atmospheres.

Food Agriculture Organisation: International Code of Conduct on the Use and Distribution of Pesticides. UNEP has produced: The London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information and Chemicals in international trade ("London Guidelines").

WHO produces a quarterly "Drug Information" bulletin

FAO/WHO Codex Organisation increasingly has control over standards relating to food and pesticides. The new World trade Organisation as part of GATT will use these standards.

View complete list of United Nations Conventions at http://www.unep.org/unep/conv.htm

Check out the Web Directory of International Instruments and Players at
http://www.greenyearbook.org/


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