UNEP
organizes training programs, workshops, conferences, seminars and symposia
at international, regional and national levels in co-operation with other
partners.
The Global
Training Programme in Environmental Law and Policy
and the Judges Programme are
among the most important initiatives. Other important activities include
the promotion of environmental law education in national universities,
training-by-attachment, and the internship programme.
Global and Regional Training Programmes
Since 1993 UNEP’s law branch has organized global
training programmes every second year. These programmes were initially
aimed at training government officials working in the field of environmental
management and legislation. The recent editions have opened the range
of participants to other categories of stakeholders, such as judges, parliamentarians,
legal officers, legal NGOs, enforcement officers, and academicians in
the field of environmental law. Several regional
programmes have addressed more specific regional problems.
Recent comments made by participants reaffirm the success of the programmes.
Judges Programme
The importance of the judiciary in the promotion and implementation of
environmental law cannot be underestimated. As a response to this, UNEP
has developed a comprehensive programme of work for the capacity building
of members of the judiciary and other legal stakeholders in order to improve
knowledge and give a floor for networking and information sharing.
Promotion of environmental law education
UNEP also provides technical assistance to promote environmental law education
and to develop academic structures and curricula in environmental law
at the University level. The following are some examples:
- Development of
the first LLM Programme in Environmental Law in a Sri Lankan University;
- Support to the
ESCAP/IUCN/University of Singapore project for the development of a
Regional Centre of Environmental Law at the University of Singapore.
In 1996 APCEL (Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Law) was established
at the Law Faculty of that University;
- Inclusion of Environmental
Law in the post-graduate course on Applied Environmental Management
at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) - Post-Graduate Environmental
Management in Thailand;
- Promotion of environmental
law education in Mozambique and Malawi at the University level;
- Creation, in cooperation
with IUCN-CEL Mesoamerica, of an environmental law course for Latin
American countries and support for an Environmental Law Ph.D, organised
by the University of Alicante and carried out in the Autonomous Metropolitan
University of Mexico;
- Assistance to
the Central American Commission on Environment and Development member
States in the implementation of a Regional Master Programme on Environmental
Policy, Law and Management, organised by the Popular University of Nicaragua
(UPONIC).
- Assistance to
the Kuwait Workshop on Environmental Law Curriculum organised jointly
by UNEP and IUCN in support of the Arab Regional Centre for Environmental
Law (ARCEL) and suggestion of a curriculum on environmental law for
the Faculty of Law of the Kuwait University.
- Assistance to
the universities of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and Freetown, Sierra Leone
through providing a collection of law publications for use by law students
and faculty members.
- Assistance to university
in Nigeria in preparing a draft curriculum in environmental law and
policy for introduction at the Nigeria’s school of Law.
Training-By-Attachment
Programme
Since 1994 UNEP has offered to high-level legal officers from developing
countries and countries with economies in transition the possibility to
be attached with UNEP for short periods (2-3 weeks). The aim of the Training-By-Attachment
Programme is to give the participants the tools to participate more effectively,
in their respective countries, in national efforts to promote the realization
of the goals of sustainable development. About 20 countries have so far
benefited from the Programme, including:
Barbados 1994, Brunei Darussalam 1996, Burkina Faso 1996, Burundi 1995,
Cuba 1994, Egypt (1994/95), Fiji 1994, Iran 1995, Jordan 1995, Malawi
1996, Mauritania 1999, Mozambique 1995 and 1996, Nigeria 1997, Sao Tome
& Principe 1996, Tanzania 1996, Uganda 1996, Western Samoa 1995
Governments can apply for their officials to benefit from
the training by attachment.
Internship Programme
The purpose of the Internship
Programme is to provide current students with practical experience
which compliments their field of study, promote a better understanding
of major global problems and how the UN attempts to find solutions to
these problems, and expose students to the UN and its programmes and policies.
The majority of the work is desk based and may include project formulation,
monitoring and / or evaluation, research and preparation of papers, preparing
work for and participation in inter-governmental meetings, website or
database design and maintenance.
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