What is the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme?
Since 1982, UNEP has conducted its environmental law activities on the basis of sequential ten-year Montevideo Programmes for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law. In March 2019, the UN Environment Assembly adopted the Fifth Montevideo Programme for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law (Montevideo Environmental Law Programme). It is a ten-year intergovernmental programme on promoting and implementing environmental rule of law, running from January 2020 to December 2029. UNEP is the Secretariat of the programme.
Find out more:
- UNEP Law and Environment Assistance Platform (UNEP-LEAP): the digital backbone for the programme
- The Montevideo Environmental Law Programme
- UN Environment Assembly resolution 4/20 on the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme
- General brochure on the Programme
- National Focal Point factsheet
- Partner factsheet
- Explainer video
Objectives of the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme
The Montevideo Environmental Law Programme aims to:
- Support the development of adequate and effective environmental legislation and legal frameworks at all levels to address environmental issues;
- Strengthen the effective implementation of environmental law at the national level;
- Support enhanced capacity-building for increased effectiveness of environmental law for all stakeholders at all levels;
- Support national Governments, upon their request, in the development and implementation of environmental rule of law; and
- Promote the role of environmental law in the context of effective environmental governance.
How will the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme achieve its objectives?
Working with national government focal points and a Steering Committee for Implementation, UNEP will partner with UN agencies and intergovernmental organizations, civil-society organizations, the private sector, and academics to focus on the following strategic activities:
- Provide practical guidance, tools, innovative approaches and resources, including effective law models and approaches, as well as best practices and model indicators to countries;
- Develop and promote information and data exchange among legal stakeholders;
- Promote public participation, access to information and access to justice in environmental matters;
- Promote the recognition of the mutually reinforcing relationship between environmental law and the three pillars of the Charter of the United Nations;
- Support collaboration and promotion of partnerships;
- Encourage and facilitate education on environmental law;
- Support environmental law awareness-raising initiatives at different levels;
- Encourage research on emerging environmental issues and the relationship between environmental law and other, related legal fields; and
- Promote training in the field of environmental law.
The first global meeting of national focal points
Due to COVID-19 the first global meeting of national focal points, which was initially scheduled for 23-25 March 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, was postponed. It was reorganized to be held in two segments.
The first segment of the first global meeting of national focal points was held virtually from 2 to 4 June 2021. National focal points and stakeholders participated to provide guidance to UNEP on relevant institutional and implementation arrangements for the Programme and to identify needs and priorities in the field of environmental rule of law. The meeting documents and outcomes of the meeting can be found on the Law and Environment Assistance Platform (LEAP), the digital backbone of the Programme which was launched at the June virtual segment.
The second segment of the First Global Meeting was held in a hybrid format from 6 - 9 June 2022, with in-person attendance at the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. Within this context, seven side events took place during the meeting.
The four previous Montevideo Environmental Law Programmes can be found here:
For more information, please contact is unep-montevideo@un.org.
