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UNEP/ROLAC
ELP provides technical legal assistance to the Governments
which so request in the formulation of draft legislative instruments
(i.e. laws/Acts, regulations, decrees, etc.) on multiple
environmental subjects. The technical assistance which is
provided by ELP is aimed at the drafting of general or framework
environmental laws or Acts, as well as at the formulation
of legislative initiatives referred to special sectors of
the environment.
This type of technical assistance is carried out after duly
studying the legislation, reality and priorities of the referred
country. It is provided according to the conclusions of the
mentioned studies and analysis and after having identified
the most suitable modality to the pursued objective. This
process is achieved through the following steps:
First, it starts with a scoping mission to the requesting
State, where a needs assessment is carried out to identify
areas of environmental concern.
In
a second stage, an examination of the existing legislative
and institutional arrangements, priorities and policies
is undertaken through a mission to the requesting country. This is followed by a detailed
report with recommendations regarding the preliminary determination
of the country’s legislative and institutional needs
or requirements and by an in-depth review and analysis of
the existing legal framework and institutional arrangements.
Officers of the country concerned are involved in all the activities.
As
the following step, UNEP assists in the join preparation, together with the relevant stakeholders, of draft
legislation as well as in the organization of national consultations
where all stakeholders can participate and comment on the
relevant draft.
A
final draft is prepared and delivered to the Government
for its eventual approval after compliance with the established
legislative process as foreseen in the national Constitution.
UNEP
activities in developing countries and countries with economies
in transition aim at creating self sufficiency in the relevant
expertise in the countries concerned, avoiding continuous
dependence on UNEP or other international organizations for
assistance. Therefore, UNEP makes an effort to utilize national
experts and local consultants in the execution of the tasks
requested to ensure that while UNEP offers assistance, it
also builds local capacity within the countries concerned.
The
second mechanism on which UNEP relies is the use of cross-sectoral
National Task Forces, drawn from relevant government departments
and major groups, to work in collaboration with UNEP, to execute
the agreed programme of activities.
From 2000 the ELP has assisted to this effect the governments
of Chile, Peru, Suriname, Antigua and Barbuda, Panama, Grenada,
Mexico, and others.
ELP has also promoted the formulation and adoption of harmonized
legislation and policies at the subregional level, in this
sense the ELP has supported the Andean Community, the countries
of the Central American Commission on Environment and Development
and CARICOM in the negotiation and preparation of common policies,
strategies and legislation.
It was a tendency in
the past, after the genesis of environmental law, to support the formulation
of environmental legislation through the drafting of model laws. This tendency has changed in order to let room
for countries to analyze their own situation and draft legislation
which suits their real needs and priorities. Legislation should
reflect the characteristics and peculiarities of a given country,
so as to make legislation applicable and efficient. The model
laws prepared in the 1990´s by the ELP are:
In
order to reinforce the importance of the implementation of
environmental national legislation, UNEP has some publications
related to these subjects.
The ELP has prepared a table which includes national environmental legislation -of various levels and legal hierarchies- of the Latin American and Caribbean countries. The chart includes also Constitutional Provisions regarding the environment (Spanish version only). |
