Compliance with International Environmental Obligations: Holding States to Account

Wednesday 29 February 2012 17:30 to 19:00

Location

Participants

Chair: Jill Barrett, British Institute of International and Comparative Law

Speakers:
Alistair McGlone, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Alistair McGlone leads the International and EU legal team in Defra. He has been involved with the development and operation of compliance mechanisms for many years, for example chairing the working groups that established the mechanisms for the Basel, Aarhus and Espoo Conventions and currently chairing the PRTR Protocol compliance committee.

Stephen Hockman QC, 6 Pump Court Chambers
Stephen Hockman QC has practised at the self-employed Bar for some 40 years. The focus of his practice is environmental and regulatory law. He has been involved in proceedings before the Aarhus Compliance Committee, sitting in Geneva. He was the Chairman of the Bar in 2006 and is a visiting Professor of Law at the City University.

Roy Watkinson, Roy Watkinson Environmental Consulting Limited
Roy Watkinson, now an independent waste management consultant, was formerly with Defra and the Environment Agency representing the UK at the UNEP Basel Convention on transboundary movements of hazardous waste. He was elected to the Basel Convention's Implementation and Compliance Committee in December 2002, serving as Chair until November 2006. He was re-elected to the Committee by the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, his current term of office expires in 2013.

A concern to live in a healthy environment is becoming one of the most important aspects of our daily life. At the international level different legal regimes have emerged with an aim to provide standards and procedures for the protection of environment. One of the key questions is how to secure compliance of States with these provisions. The event will start with an overview of what are compliance mechanisms, a brief history of their development and consideration of key issues that emerge after the compliance mechanisms are established and put into operation (Alistair McGlone). The discussion will continue with the examination of provisions of the Aarhus Convention, the way in which the Compliance Committee seeks to enforce them, and the implications of the process for national governments, including the UK (Stephen Hockman). Another important international mechanism for the protection of environment is the Committee on Implementation and Compliance under the Basel Convention. In this context, the event will consider practical experience accrued from the Committee's work as well as future challenges that lay ahead of the Basel Convention compliance mechanism (Roy Watkinson).

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