Such agreements can have their own monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, transitional grace periods reflecting different economic and environmental conditions, and dispute-settlement procedures. They can also contribute to progress by harmonizing criteria, tools and methods for measuring ecosystem risks and evaluating performance. Voluntary measures represent one viable approach. They allow companies to innovate and determine the best way for improving environmental performance based on their own unique circumstances and local environmental conditions. They can also reduce substantially the costs to government of developing, implementing, monitoring and enforcing environmental regulations.
Voluntary measures can be very effective.
The ability of developing countries and economies in transition to implement regulations and comply with international environmental agreements can be slowed by lack of financial resources as well as by inadequate institutional capacity and technical expertise. International cooperation in the form of capacity-building programs, including education, training and technical assistance, can help overcome these problems and facilitate progress towards environmental goals. Financial Assistance and Technology Transfer External financial resources are needed to supplement or leverage the financial resources of developing countries and economies in transition. In order to encourage compliance and ensure high participation rates, three conventions dealing with global issues climate change, biodiversity, and ozone depletion have introduced programs aimed at providing financial and technical assistance as well as facilitating the transfer of environmentally sound technology. This has resulted in the reduction of over 100,000 tonnes of the total 200,000 tonnes of ozone-depleting substances consumed in developing countries.