COMIFAC: Wildlife Law

The Central Africa Forest Commission (COMIFAC) has agreed on a Regional Action Plan for Strengthening National Wildlife Law Implementation for 2012-2016. The plan consists of four elements:
- cooperation and collaboration among relevant wildlife law enforcement and prosecution authorities;
- investigations at key border and transit points, domestic markets and transboundary areas;
- effective deterrents and prosecutions; and
- awareness of illegal wildlife trade issues.

The Action Plan will form the basis of a wildlife enforcement network in Central Africa, like those already in place in Central America, Europe, South and Southeast Asia. Participants also agreed to a roadmap for the implementation of the Action Plan, which includes the submission of the Action Plan for formal endorsement at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of COMIFAC.

Press Release

Compliance and Enforcement Summit

The 1st International Chiefs of Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (ICECE) Summit brought together national leaders of environment, biodiversity and natural resource agencies and departments with law enforcement responsibilities to develop a global strategy for addressing environmental concerns. Over three days, the 230 delegates from nearly 70 States attended thematic sessions on Investigative Assistance and Operational Support, Information Management, Capacity Building Standards, and Effective Networks, as well as commodity specific side-meetings covering fisheries, forestry, pollution, and wildlife. Particular concern was expressed from many delegates on the scale of environmental crime and the connection with organized transnational crime, including issues of smuggling, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and murder.

Report

Further information

ICCWC and Tigers

The International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime recently convened the Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime.

Further Information

Cartagena Protocol Compliance

The CBD Secretariat has released the report of the 8th meeting of the Compliance Committee under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

SEAFO: 8th Annual Session

At its 8th annual session, the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO) agreed to accept a footprint for bottom fisheries and the regulation of still un-fished areas by the adoption of technical measures to protect vulnerable marine ecoystems (VMEs). Concerning thresholds to trigger the "move-on rule" in case of possible encounters with VMEs, the SEAFO Commission approved the provisions of the existing Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, for fixed gear; and the thresholds recently adopted by Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), for trawlers. With regard to compliance, SEAFO adopted a new Port State Measure in line with the FAO Port State Control Agreement. According to the EU, its application will be essential for the conservation of species under the SEAFO Convention and for international efforts to fight Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fisheries.
Press Release

Accountability for Environmental Governance

The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future has released a new policy brief titled “Rio+20: Accountability and Implementation as Key Goals," in which the authors assert that UNCSD (Rio+20) is an opportunity to strengthen global environmental governance through, inter alia, four “accountability-enabling mechanisms”: improved metrics and reporting mechanisms; transparency mechanisms; compliance mechanisms; and capacity building.

UN/DESA: IFSD and Peer Review

The "Issues Brief: Lessons from the Peer Review Mechanism" by UN/DESA,  focuses on options for strengthening IFSD and summarizes peer review mechanisms currently in place in UN system institutions while considering their potential to contribute to the implementation of international agreements. The brief describes peer review as distinct from compliance enforcement mechanisms or other dispute settlement bodies, such as courts or cap and trade systems. It indicates that peer review seeks to promote compliance through a constructive, persuasive, learning-based and non-adversarial process that rests on the equality of the parties concerned and therefore respects national sovereignty.

Website of Issues Briefs

New Global Network Established

The Global Network of Prosecutors and General Attorneys was recently launched during the 9th International Conference on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement from 20-24 June in British Columbia (Canada). This initiative is an outcome of the workplan developed by the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law (IUCN-CEL) Specialist Group for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement and is being carried out in cooperation with the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE).

The Network will emphasize activities that ensure compliance with legal protections for flora and fauna, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and habitats. Potential specific areas of focus include fish, forest and wetlands. The Network is to be formed from prosecutors and attorneys general that are educated on environmental compliance and enforcement issues and possess the skills and tools, relative to their legal system and culture, to successfully prosecute environmental crimes.

Auditors and Sustainable Development

Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs, speaking at the 21st session of the UN International Organziation of Supreme Audit Insitutions (SAIs), pointed out that these institutions, which promote sound financial management and overall accountability, are part of the solution to global problems. He highlighted the global problems of ocean damage, water scarcity, and food and oil prices and said, “without good governance, sustainable development will not be sustained,”

See the MEA Bulletin Guest Article, "Improving MEA Compliance: the Role of National Audit Offices," by Vivien Lo for further reading.

Aahrus Convention: MOP-4

MOP-4 took place from 29 June-1 July in Chisinau (Republic of Moldova) and marked the 10th anniversary of the entry into force of the Aarhus Convention. The session's decisions addressed, inter alia: access to justice; access to information; public participation in national decision-making as well as in international forums; GMOs; compliance; other procedures and mechanisms facilitating implementation; and promotion of the Convention, including the procedure for accession to the Convention by States from outside the region of the UNECE.

A high-level segment focused on the role of the Aarhus Convention in promoting sustainable development, in connection with UNCSD (Rio+20), providing an opportunity to discuss how the implementation of the Aarhus Convention has helped to enhance good governance and sustainable development across the region and beyond. The segment culminated with the adoption of the Chisinau Declaration “Rio Plus Aarhus – 20 Years on: Bearing Fruit and Looking Forward."

New Publication on Forest Governance

FAO and the World Bank's Program on Forests (PROFOR) have released a publication titled : "Framework for Assessing and Monitoring Forest Governance." By drawing on several approaches currently in use in major forest governance-related processes and initiatives, the framework is intended to be used by governmental and non-governmental actors involved in forest governance.

The publication describes the design, structure and elements of the framework, as well as its subcomponents, including: policy, legal, institutional and regulatory frameworks; planning and decision-making processes; and implementation, enforcement and compliance.

OECD: Paper on Enforcement

This research paper titled “Environmental Enforcement in Decentralised Governance Systems: Toward a Nationwide Level Playing Field” focuses on methods to promote consistency in the implementation of environmental law. In particular, it analyzes approaches to managing environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement in several countries with decentralized systems of environmental governance, including Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.

Environmental Compliance and Enforcement: 9th Conference

Under the theme: "Enforcement Cooperation: Strengthening Environmental Governance," 150 compliance and enforcement experts from over 50 countries identified new actions to promote enforcement cooperation and closed with recommendations in preparation for UNCSD (Rio+20).

Background papers

ICNP-1: Recommendations adopted

As preparation for COP/MOP-1 of the Nagoya Protocol, the Intergovernmental Committee at its meeting from 5-10 June in Montreal (Canada), adopted four recommendations, including on compliance with the Protocol, which emerged as the dominant discussion topic and are expected to take a significant role at the next meeting of the Committee, scheduled for April 2012.

Draft Report
IISD RS Coverage of the Meeting
Meeting Documents

ITPGR: 2nd Meeting of Compliance Working Group

In preparation for the 4th session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR), to be held in March 2011 in Bali (Indonesia), the Ad Hoc Working Group on Compliance will continue deliberations on procedures and mechanisms to promote compliance and address issues of non-compliance from 17-18 January in Rome (Italy).