July 2011: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released the report of the First Meeting of the High Level International Advisory Committee (HLIAC) for the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability. Conclusions from the meeting will be used to guide UNEP in further preparations.

The meeting convened from 4-5 July 2011, in Stockholm Sweden. According to the report of the meeting, the HLIAC recommended, inter alia: limiting active participation to Chief Justices, Attorneys-General or Chief Prosecutors, and Auditors-General without including parliamentarians; inviting a representative from the World Summit of Legislators to participate in and address the World Congress; carefully defining criteria for participation, taking into account the difference in legal systems around the world; inviting the International Bar Association; and convening two preparatory meetings to discuss the draft outcome, to ensure that early input could be made to the preparatory process for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).

The HLIAC also recommended that the World Congress aim to: discuss a draft declaration on human rights and the environment; support environmental compliance and enforcement; and launch a judicial portal of UNEP, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE), which would serve as an interactive tool to support the work of the judiciary around the world. [Report of the Meeting]