Fostering the Exchange of Information and Contacts

In fostering the exchange of information, ICEL focuses on collecting and disseminating documents on environmental law and policy. To improve access to information and expand contacts between environmental lawyers, ICEL has also initiated the creation of a broader network of associations, institutions, academics, etc., which are active in the field of environmental law and policy.

ICEL prepares three looseleaf collections of documents which together cover the entire spectrum of international environmental law and policy (see under publications).

IUCN Environmental Law Centre Library

In partnership with the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC), ICEL maintains what is probably the world''s most extensive collection of documents on environmental law and policy - international treaties, supranational instruments, national legislation, law and policy literature and official documents from the United Nations system (UN resolutions, decisions, etc.). Bibliographic references to the documents are entered into the computerised databank ELIS (Environmental Law Information System). Upon request, it carries out information retrieval for external users at cost.

In this context, IUCN and ICEL jointly approach publishers and IUCN/CEL Members, as well as ICEL Members, on a regular basis to donate relevant publications to the IUCN ELC Library in Bonn. In exchange, IUCN and ICEL offer to feature the books on their respective websites.

Click here for a chronological list of recent donations to the IUCN ELC library.

The publications are also included in ECOLEX, the global environmental law database operated by IUCN ELC in partnership with FAO and UNEP. They are also made available to the many fellows, interns and visitors who make use of the IUCN ELC library.

Relations with Intergovernmental Bodies

Through the United Nations Economic and Social Council, ICEL has general consultative status with the UN and its specialised agencies. It also has a special status with many international organisations - for example, the Council of Europe - and has permanent representatives at the UN offices in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Addis Ababa and Bangkok.

ICEL is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and supports its Environmental Law Programme (ELP). 

Contributions to activities within the UN System and to other intergovernmental fora
ICEL contributes regularly to sessions of the UN General Assembly through its commissions and relevant committees, for example, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the programmes such as UNEP, as well as to the work of specialised agencies. It also monitors activities of other international governmental organisations, and the decisions of the Conferences of Parties of Conventions.

Development of International Environmental Law
In recent years, a chief focus of ICEL''s work has been to cooperate with the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law (CEL) on a project to draft an International Covenant on Environment and Development. The project''s aim was to consolidate major existing and emerging legal principles related to environmental conservation and sustainable development into a draft of an internationally binding legal instrument, thus contributing to the progressive development of international environmental law. In 1994 the first Draft was completed and the document was launched at the Congress of Public International Law in New York in March 1995. 

In the meantime, a 2nd revised text has been presented to the Member States of the United Nations on the occasion of the 54th Session of the UN General Assembly 2004. 

Click here to download a copy of the current edition of the International Covenant on Environment and Development.

Other examples of the Council''s activities are ICEL''s involvement in preparing and drafting an instrument designed to improve the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict.