United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

UNEP has been actively engaged as a catalyst in the development and promotion of environmental law since its inception through the negotiation, adoption, and consolidation of global and regional multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) as well as soft law instruments such as guidelines, principles, and programs. Its Montevideo Program has provided a basis for concerted engagement in these processes. The Montevideo Program IV was adopted for the development and periodic review of environmental law for 2011–20 (Governing Council (GC) Decision 25/11 of 28 October 2008). For its mid-term review, the meeting of Eminent Legal Experts was held in New York on 15–16 July 2015. As a sequel, a meeting of Senior Government Officials Expert in Environmental Law was held on 7–11 September 2015 at Montevideo, Uruguay. The report and recommendations were to be submitted to the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi on 23–7 May 2016. The third UNEA is slated to be held in December 2017, with a special focus on pollution.