This is a report of an expert process involving experts nominated by governments, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. The outcomes of the process are intended to contribute to the efforts aimed at developing a deeper knowledge and understanding of crimes that have serious impacts on the environment, as well as to the development and better implementation of responses to these crimes at the international, regional, and national levels.

This assessment report gives a snapshot of how countries have progressed in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans development and national implementation since the pre-2010 National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans assessment carried out by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies3 and their readiness to meet the Aichi Targets. In particular, we examined Parties’ readiness to mainstream biodiversity concerns across sectoral and cross-sectoral plans and policies.

This guide provides an overview of the multilateral environmental agreements, their requirements related to trade in environmentally sensitive substances and commodities, and the role of customs officers and border control officers in facilitating legal trade and preventing illegal trade. Hence, the customs and border control officers will know better what to look for, why they are looking for it, what the implications of uncontrolled or illegal trade are and whom to contact for more specialized assistance.

This paper provides an overview of current thinking and the experience of countries in using legal frameworks to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity at the national level through National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and provides options for enhancing legal preparedness in revising and implementing the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

This Handbook is designed to provide jurists with an overview of environmental constitutionalism: we address what it is, the peculiar practical and procedural issues it presents, and how courts from around the globe have engaged it.

This report summarizes the findings of the workshop Climate Finance Law: Legal Readiness for Climate Finance co-convened by King’s College London and UN Environment. The workshop is part of an ongoing partnership to stimulate collaborations and mutual learning between public and private stakeholders in developing and developed countries for trans-formational change, with an aim to provide a forum in which countries can assist each other to strengthen their national law and regulation to enable climate finance at the scale required for implementation of SDGs and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets under the Paris Agreement. The ultimate objective is to help build endogenous capacity for autonomy and empowerment.

The publication takes stock and gives a ‘gap analysis’ of the current status of institutions and legal frameworks relating to the regulation of licit trade, and the prevention, detection and penalization of illicit trade, in wildlife and forest products. It also highlights useful components of existing instruments and possible issues with the content of those instruments, which could benefit from future attention by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of national governments.

The Guidebook is a “how to” guide on the steps towards ratification of, acceptance of, approval of or accession to, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization.

UN Environment, in cooperation with World Health Organization, United States Environment Protection Agency and other partners, has developed a model law and guidance in order to assist countries in establishing and implementing regulation on lead paint.

With its emphasis on adaptation to local country needs and conditions, this handbook describes key environmental and implementation issues associated with efficiency and renewable energy resources, presenting legislative options from both developed and developing countries for dealing with them.