After two weeks of intensive lectures and negotiating exercises, the 16th edition of the Course on Multilateral Agreements Agreements will come to its conclusion on October 24th, 2019 with a closing event in the Aula Magna of the University of Siena Department of Law. The course, which was co-organised by the UN Environment Programme (UN Environment), the University of Eastern Finland, the Department of Law of the University of Siena and the Jean Monnet Module in European Union Law and Sustainable Development, convened this year under the theme ‘Emerging Issues in International Environmental Law‘.
For 10 days, 35 between diplomats, government officials and NGO representatives attended lectures, videoconferences and roundtables focusing on a broad range of ‘hot’ topics in multilateral environmental negotiations, ranging from the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the protection of marine biodiversity to the regulation of geo-engineering, chemicals and short-lived climate pollutants.
In addition, the participants were provided with key negotiating skills and eventually engaged in a simulation of negotiations relating to the governance of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, mirroring the actual negotiations that are currently ongoing under the auspices of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The academic staff of the EULawSD module is grateful for the opportunity it had to co-host the course and would like to congratulate all the participants upon their expertise and engagement. The staff also extends its congratulations to organisers from UN Environment and the University of Eastern Finland for the overwhelming success of the initiative.
To read more about the 16th edition of the MEA Course, visit http://www.uef.fi/en/web/unep.