Enacting and developing international environmental law - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 58

the parties. Generally the duty of the committee is limited to provid-
ing assistance to any violating parties (such as fi nancing, education) to
improve compliance rather than applying any sanctions, although certain
penalties can be used (from naming and shaming to temporary suspension
from the treaty regime).
4 In this way, the parties can be said to have established a permanent
management mechanism in order to react effectively to a changing envi-
ronmental problem. This is only possible if updated scientifi c information
about the environmental problem and potential solutions continue to be
fi ltered into the regime (for instance through advances in technology).

5 The regime should also be able to monitor and confi rm that the parties

are developing their own domestic policies effectively and implementing
what has already been decided by the meetings of the parties and other
sub-bodies of the regime.

6 The meeting of the parties should also continue to develop the treaty

regime in various ways, via soft-law and hard-law measures, depending on
the new challenges that are presented.

States can also conclude agreements to establish standing organizations for the
promotion of environmental protection. By entitling these organizations to
take legally binding decisions, states are thereby able to enact international
environmental law. The European Union is an extreme example of this
progress but it is today considered a sui generis (unique) legal system. Bodies
such as the Commission of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine
Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) are also able to make deci-
sions that will bind their member states.
Most environmental agreements do not establish a formal international
organization but a kind of a mini organization (outlined above) focused
around the agreement. The mini organization can then be linked to existing
international organizations; the environmental treaties negotiated within the
UN Economic Commission of Europe (UNECE) are a good example.
States generally select the meetings of the parties as the main decision-
making forum. The meetings defi ne how the treaty system is developed and
whether it will be necessary to establish any treaty bodies. The meetings also
generally make consensus decisions relating to the treaty regime. Frequently,
sub-committees are established to ensure that the treaty regime is regularly
developed in order to meet new challenges and to ensure that new scientifi c/
technical research is fi ltered into the regime.
Another important mechanism that must be established is the funding
mechanism. The funding model is often subject to much political wrangling.
In the 1992 Rio Environment Conference, the developing countries pushed
through a decision about the fi nancing of international environmental protec-
tion which was of great importance to them. The World Bank, UNEP and
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) in 1991 which the Rio Conference designated