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 report provides an overview of the current status of national legislation and institutional arrangements of relevance to EIAs and SEAs across the globe, as well as emerging issues and trends. It does this primarily through providing examples from a wide selection of countries of their EIA/SEA arrangements and in relation to the different steps of the EIA/SEA processes. These steps include: (1) Screening; (2) Scoping and Impact Analysis; (3) Review of the EIA/SEA report; (4) Decision-making; (5) Follow-up and Adaptive Management and (6) Public Participation as a cross-cutting issue.

Over the last decade, laws codifying national and international responses to climate change have grown in number, specificity, and importance. As these laws have recognized new rights and created new duties, litigation seeking to challenge either their facial validity or their particular application has followed. So too has litigation aimed at pressing legislators and policymakers to be more ambitious and thorough in their approaches to climate change.

Far too much of the 300 million tonnes of plastic produced every year finds its way into our oceans, food chains and ecosystems, damaging our health in the process. Well-designed laws can help reverse this global trend. This report provides an overview of legislation that countries have implemented to tackle marine litter, focusing in particular on upstream solutions.

The publication is aimed at equipping present and future negotiators of MEAs with information and experiences of others in the area of international environmental law-making in order to improve the impact and implementation of these key treaties. The ultimate aim is to strengthen and build environmental negotiation capacity and governance worldwide.