Oceania is an area of high biological diversity vulnerable to a range of human-induced threats. Environmental challenges are many and include land degradation, invasive species and biodiversity loss. Most countries in this region have enacted environmental laws and become parties to many global and regional environmental conventions, agreements and protocols. However effective rights-based governance of natural resources remains an issue and effective implementation of the laws remains a key challenge.
Environmental law is critical to the mission of IUCN and the work that IUCN does. IUCN Oceania's Environmental Law Programme works closely with IUCN's global Environmental Law Programme (ELP) in delivering results in the following key areas:
- Awareness raising
- Capacity building
- Policy development
- Research and knowledge building