ECOLEX: useful online resource on environmental law for environmental NGOs

NGO activists who work in nature conservation and protection of environmental rights will find useful information database ECOLEX (www.ecolex.org). It combines the environmental law information holdings of the three partner organizations FAO, IUCN and UNEP. The pool of ECOLEX data contains comprehensive bibliographic and analytical information as well as full text links to more than 1 100 multilateral and bilateral agreements, 62 000 on national legislation, 420 court decisions and 28 000 records on literature on law and policy. The portal offers a user-friendly Google-kind feature by which the user can find information in all or selected datasets. For the more advanced user ECOLEX includes specially tailored search forms for each of the datasets.

ECOLEX covers all aspects of environmental and natural resources conservation, including subjects such as fresh and marine water, air and atmosphere, soil and land use, species and ecosystems, fisheries and forestry, hazardous substances and waste, as well as food and agriculture. All information has been analyzed and indexed in a standardized way, descriptors such as country name, territory, region, keywords etc. were harmonized. ECOLEX has the trilingual user interface (English, French and Spanish) and is free of charge.