Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Abstract

It appears that law making on environmental issues is greatly facilitated through treaties due to scientific uncertainties and a sense of urgency involved in the matter. As a result multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) have emerged as a unique technique that encompasses flexibility, pragmatism, in-built law making mechanism as well as step-by-step consensual approach to norm-setting. As such environmental treaty-making in recent decades has emerged as a fine tool that comprises a great diversity and innovative approaches at regulation. Most of them underscore multidimensional nature of environmental problems that need special sensitivity and sui generis approach to address them. MEAs have emerged as one of the best examples of institutionalized intergovernmental cooperation to address specific environmental issues. It is generally contended that the advent of MEAs have ushered in an era of ad hoc law making and institutional structures.Keywords: ad hoc law making structure; environmental treaty; multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs); specific environmental issues; sui generis art