Multilateral Environmental Agreements		■ London Dumping Convention ■ Agenda 21 ■ Montreal Protocol of the Vienna    Convention ■ Basel Convention ■ Convention on Migratory Species ■ Framework Convention on Climate    Change ■ Kyoto Protocol ■ Convention on Biodiversity ■ United Nations Convention on the    Law of the Sea ■ International Convention for the    Prevention of Pollution from Ships    (MARPOL) ■ Regional Seas Conventions ■ International Convention on Oil    Pollution Preparedness, Response,    and Co-operation
A Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) is an agreement by several parties to take certain steps to increase protection of the world’s natural resources or promote environmental quality. MEAs include international and regional conventions and protocols; where a convention provides a general framework for action, protocols outline steps to address specific problems. At present, there are over 70 international conventions and agreements that deal directly with protecting the marine environment as well as a number of other MEAs that are of relevance to offshore oil and gas activities. However, the actual regulation of offshore oil and gas activities is handled either at the national level or within the framework of international conventions.