Progressive Development and Implementation of Environmental Law – Delivering Montevideo Programme V Strong environmental laws and institutions underpin successful implementation of any environmental goal, policy, or commitment – whether national, regional, or global. Since 1982, the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) environmental law activities have been organized and coordinated through its flagship programme, known as the Programme for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law (Montevideo Programme). Renewed every 10-years, this Programme has guided the international community in the development of environmental laws that transform science-based policies into action-orientated rules and standards of conduct. Some of the most important multilateral environmental agreements, including the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal find their roots in the work fostered by the Montevideo Programme. 

In its resolution 4/20 of 15 March 2019, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted the fifth iteration of the Programme (Montevideo Programme V) to be delivered from 1 January 2020 through to 31 December 2029. For the first three years, Montevideo Programme V has been subsumed under the UNEP Project “Addressing Environmental Challenges through the Law”. The expiration of this Project Document in December 2022 has provided the opportunity to reflect on the objectives of Montevideo Programme V, and other UNEP-led environmental law efforts, and more fully align them with the Medium-Term Strategy for 2022-2025 and Programme of Work for 2022-2023. 

This has been achieved by placing the triple planetary crisis at the centre of Montevideo Programme V and other environmental law activities and tackling them through the lens of environmental governance. In doing so, this new Project Document will provide a strong foundation for supporting countries to strengthen, develop and implement appropriate laws and institutions and build related capacity to prevent, control and manage pollution, address climate change, and reduce biodiversity loss, in line with relevant resolutions and conventions. At the regional and global level, it will support the development and implementation of networks and/or instruments to support greater coordination and collaboration, and scale-up impact to tackle the triple planetary crisis. 

The project’s intervention strategy has been carefully thought out to align with all four indicators under the environmental governance subprogramme of the Programme of Work for 2022-2023: i) number of countries supported by UNEP under the Montevideo Programme in developing and implementing environmental rule of law and related technical and institutional capacities to address internationally agreed environmental goals; ii) number of international legal agreements or instruments advanced or developed with UNEP support to address emerging or internationally agreed environmental goals; iii) number of plans, approaches, strategies, policies, action plans or budgeting processes of entities at the national, regional, and global levels that include environmental goals as a result of UNEP support; and iv) number of entities at the national, regional, or global levels that UNEP has supported in developing integrated approaches and tools for enhanced coordination, cooperation, and synergies for the coherent implementation of multilateral environmental agreements. 

By taking a thematic approach, the Project Document also aligns closely with many of the direct outcomes under the thematic subprogrammes of climate action, nature action, and chemicals and pollution action in the Programme of Work, as well as the science-policy foundational subprogramme.