International agreements

This document is the product of extensive consultation between EC policy advisers and task managers dealing with biodiversity and the environment, and those working on natural resource and non-natural resource issues. The important issue of integrating biodiversity into development cooperation policy and practice is addressed. It highlights the need to realise biodiversity's full potential to support development while addressing the direct and underlying causes of its loss.

This document is the product of extensive consultation between EC policy advisers and task managers dealing with biodiversity and the environment, and those working on natural resource and non-natural resource issues. The important issue of integrating biodiversity into development cooperation policy and practice is addressed. It highlights the need to realise biodiversity's full potential to support development while addressing the direct and underlying causes of its loss.

Our oceans are slowly dying, and the instruments of governance are inadequate to stop it. The international dimensions of ocean problems loom larger as we learn more about threats to marine species and ecosystems - invasive species are transported by international shipping, oceans fill with persistent organic pollutants, and nutrients from sewage and fertilizers cause excessive growth of marine plants. These challenges require that governments agree on commitments and common programs, in consultation with other stakeholders.

For many years, concerns have been expressed about environmental issues in the Arctic. While the Arctic region, unlike Antarctica, has been inhabited for thousands of years, it is under unique threat because of its vulnerability toward resource exploitation and the deposition of various airborne pollutants. With its varied populations, and with eight Nations asserting territorial interests, the Arctic needs a careful approach to its protection and development. This report describes the current Arctic environmental legal regime.

This publication contains four papers on different legal issues of interest to developing countries. The papers were researched and written by four Carl Duisberg Gesellscaft (CDG) Fellows who came to Germany from Bangladesh, Venezuela, Nigeria and China to study under the host leadership of the IUCN Environmental Law Centre.