At the request of several civil society organizations on best ways to access information on Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), the UNEP Regional Office for Europe in partnership with the Information and Knowledge Management Initiative (MEA-IKM), through the Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC), organized an extensive briefing on InforMEA at the UNEP sub-regional Major Group and Stakeholder (MGS) meeting and the 6th Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (Georgia, 19-21 December). InforMEA is the UN portal on MEAs developed to harmonize interoperable information systems for the benefit of Parties and the environment community at large. InforMEA provides COP decisions and resolutions, national focal points, national reports and implementation plans, news, events, MEA memberships, etc. Participants appreciated the availability of such a portal that gives easy access to relevant information linked with the different MEAs. In addition to the portal, participants had the opportunity to learn more about the newly launched InforMEA e-learning platform http://e-learning.informea.org/ aimed at building knowledge and greater understanding of International Environmental Law (IEL) and provides educational and training materials on IEL concepts and the development and implementation of MEAs. Participants were given a demonstration on how they could complete the online courses at their own pace for no cost. The MEA IKM initiative currently includes 43 international and regional legally binding instruments.

More information: eva.duer@unep.org