The International Environmental Agreements (IEA) Database Project seeks to foster analysis of international environmental agreements (IEAs) by providing a "single source" repository for most information related to IEAs and the evaluation of their influence. Initiated in 2002, the Database seeks to provide a reliable list of all historic and current IEAs.
Go to International Environmental Agreements Database Project webpageInternational Environmental Agreements (IEA) include efforts to regulate human interactions with the environment that involve legally binding commitments ("agreements") among governments ("international") that have environmental protection as a primary objective ("environmental").The IEAs include:
- instruments designated as convention, treaty, agreement, accord, or their non-English equivalents, and protocols and amendments to such instruments;
- instruments, regardless of designation, establishing intergovernmental commissions;
- instruments, regardless of designation, identified as binding by reliable sources (e.g., by a secretariat, UNEP, or published legal analysis); or
- instruments, regardless of designation, whose texts fit accepted terminologies of legally-binding agreements.
Intergovernmental "soft laws," such as action plans, agreed measures, codes of conduct, declarations, resolutions, and similar policies that are not binding are excluded. European Union (EU) directives are also excluded due to their unique status.