World-wide association of experts in international environmental law.

The International Council of Environmental Law (ICEL) is a world-wide association of environmental law experts, who play a role in the progressive development of international environmental law. It was founded in 1969. In 2019 it celebrated its 50th anniversary. The need for deploying ICEL expertise is greater now more than ever, as environmental degradation trends worsen, and the face of the Anthropocene epoch is ever more visible. ICEL was accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC, in 1973, and maintains “General Consultative Status” as observer. ICEL regularly presents expert opinions to UN bodies and organs. The status allows ICEL members access to the UN meetings and premises.

ICEL is also accredited to the UN Environment Programme, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention on Migratory Species, and other international organizations. It is an active member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). ICEL maintains representatives in Bonn, Geneva, Nairobi, New York, and Vienna.

Because of its ECOSOC status and UN accreditations, ICEL has most recently engaged in negotiations for the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and is involved in ongoing negotiations mandated by the UN Environment Assembly on a new international legally-binding instrument on plastic pollution, the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime on a new international legally-binding protocol on crimes that affect the environment, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on an annex to the Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025.

See “ICEL REPORT 2017-2022 to 2023 and beyond”, for the recent history of ICEL – building upon ICEL’s five decades in environmental law-making.

Mandate (according to ICEL’s Statutes)

ICEL acts as a clearing house between individual persons and organizations dealing with the legal, administrative and policy aspects of environmental conservation and management. In particular, the Council shall:

a) Promote collaboration between its members and affiliated parties;
b) Develop the exchange of information on all aspects of environmental law, policy and administration;
c) Undertake such other activities in the field of environmental law, policy and administration as the Board of Governors shall at any time decide;
d) Work in close cooperation with all organizations that are active in the various aspects of environmental conservation and shall give support to their activities in the field.