13 June 2014
MEA Knowledge Management Initiative Discusses Information Portal on MEAs
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Four UN entities, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other key partners met for the fifth annual meeting of the Steering Committee of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Knowledge Management Initiative (MEA IKM).

The initiative, a knowledge management project within the UN system, seeks to develop harmonized information systems to facilitate the successful implementation of 18 MEAs.

InforMEA9 June 2014: Four UN entities, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other key partners met for the fifth annual meeting of the Steering Committee of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Knowledge Management Initiative (MEA IKM). The initiative, a knowledge management project within the UN system, seeks to develop harmonized information systems to facilitate the successful implementation of 18 MEAs.

John Scanlon, Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), said that the initiative is “a creative way of enhancing environmental governance and giving expression to one coherent body of international environmental law.” Other participants at the meeting, held in Montreux, Switzerland from 3-6 June 2014, included Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Honourable Justice Antonio Benjamin, Brazil Supreme Court and Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, as well as representatives from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).

Among the items discussed was the initiative’s first project, the UN Information Portal on MEAs (InforMEA), which is designed to collect and organize decisions and resolutions from Conferences of the Parties (COP) meetings, news, events, MEA membership, national focal points, national reports, and implementation plans from MEA Secretariats. The meeting highlighted that the EU-funded project is developing a number of information resources, such as an E-learning tool on Environmental Law and Conventions, and tools to search national plans and reports submitted by Parties from all participating MEAs.

Other topics addressed included: the development of an MEA Thesaurus; fundraising for engaging universities in the promotion of environmental law and environmental conventions; and knowledge management partnerships with FAO and IUCN. [UNEP Press Release] [InforMEA website]

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