Centre international de droit comparé de l`environnement

The International Centre of Comparative Environmental Law (C.I.D.C.E. ) is an international N.G.O. (scientific association affected by the provisions of 1st July 1901) founded in 1982 in Limoges (FRANCE). It follows upon the Centre of Comparative Law Studies located in Strasbourg. The organisation’s members are legal experts on environmental issues. The organisation is taken in by the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Environmental, Urban and Planning Law (CRIDEAU) at the University of Limoges. Since 1990, the C.I.D.C.E has been awarded the status as observer at UNESCO and has been accredited party to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development for the Rio Conference (1992) as the Johannesburg Conference (2002). The CIDCE has the status of advisory board to the Council of Europe (2001) and status as observer to the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution (UNEP-2001). In 2004, the C.I.D.C.E. became observer to the ESPOO Convention (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) and member to The World Conservation Union (IUCN), founded in 1948 whose members include about 1 000 NGOs as more than 10 000 internationally-recognised scientists and experts from more than 180 countries making it a unique global partnership. The mission of IUCN is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Concerning International Agreements, it assisted more than 75 countries to draft and implement their national strategy on conservation and biodiversity. The IUCN is a global organisation with almost 1 000 staff covering 44 countries around the world, with a contingent of some 100 people at the Headquarters in Gland (Switzerland). The African Society of Environmental Law (SADE) as the European Association of Environmental Law (AEDE) are, in particular, one of its members the UICN