2. What are MEAs?
MEAs or Multilateral Environmental Agreements are
agreements between states which may take the form of “soft-
law”, setting out non legally-binding principles which parties
are obligated to consider when taking actions to address a
particular environmental issue, or “hard-law” which specify
legally-binding actions to be undertaken toward an
environmental objective.
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3. Other terms of MEAs are the following:
Many global environmental issues don’t stop at the border:
• they are caused by sources thousands of kilometers away;
• they can have a regional or even a global impact.
MEAs are international legal instruments that:
• have a goal of environmental protection (sustainable development);
• take measures to remedy, mitigate or otherwise deal with global and/or regional
environmental concerns;
• are concluded between a large number of states or international organizations as Parties;
• can be embodied in a single instrument or more related instruments;
• are governed by international law;
• are concluded in written form.
4. Scope of MEAs: 5 Topics
1. MEAs related to protection and conservation of BIODIVERSITY.
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD);
• Others include CITES, CMS, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands etc.
5. 2. MEAs focusing on protecting LAND from “negative
altering”.
• UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD);
• 3 Rio Conventions linked to climate change and biodiversity.
6. 3. MEAs relevant to the REGIONAL SEAS & MARINE
ENVIRONMENT.
• 17 Regional Seas Conventions;
• Global Program of Action for the protection of the marine
environment from land-based
activities (GPA).
7. 4. MEAs aimed at protection of the ATMOSPHERE from
pollutants.
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• Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer;
• UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the
linked Kyoto Protocol.
8. 5. MEAs dealing with hazardous WASTES & CHEMICAL
pollution.
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• Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movement of
hazardous wastes and their
disposal;
• Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent for certain
hazardous chemicals and
pesticides in international trade;
• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
9. MEAs are international instruments states enter into,
addressing particular environmental issues.They play
a vital role in the development of overall environmental
frameworks from the global, regional, national to sub-
national levels of governance and cooperation
