Recently, the member of the IUCN’s WCEL, member of the Group of Experts for the Pact (GEP) of the Global Pact for the Environment (hereinafter referred to as the “Pact”), and Secretary General of CBCGDF, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, received a letter from Mr. Yann Aguila, the President of the Environment Commission of the French think tank “the Club des juristes”, the Secretary-General of the GEP, discussed about the Secretary-General of the United Nations had just submitted a review report on international environmental legislation to the UN General Assembly on the “Pact”, and the “Pact” was further promoted.
The “Pact” was initiated by “the Club des juristes”, and it was drafted by the legal professions of nearly 40 counties and regions around the world and is a continuation of the Paris Agreement. Its purpose is to establish a legal basis on an international scale and to safeguard the environmental rights of citizens and business. The “Pact” reaffirms the right of citizens to enjoy a healthy ecological environment and emphasizes the important role of non-state actors. If it becomes an international convention, it will have legal effect on the parties to the convention. The “Pact” is a landmark initiative of IUCN-WCEL. IUCN has been interoperating with WCEL members on the latest developments and updates to the “Pact”. For more information on the “Pact”, please refer to the link https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-environmental-law/our-work/global-pact-environment and http://pactenvironment.org/. In the spring of 2018, Dr. Zhou received a letter form IUCN, discussed about the “Pact” related with a speech given by the French President Macron at the American Congress during his visiting to the United States at the time.
In June 2017, France held a high-level meeting in Paris to discuss the formulation and implementation of the “Global Pact for the Environment” and called for a change in the fragmentation and conflicting situation of current international environmental legislation to achieve a legally binding International Convention. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former California governor Schwarzenegger and other prominent figures and international agencies such as IUCN expressed support for the proposed convention.
CBCGDF has been working on the “Pact” to strengthen cooperation and interaction with the parties in the field of environmental and sustainable development and participate in the global environmental governance process. In July 2017, CBCGDF held a special meeting on the draft of the “Pact” to promote the popularization of various fields such as environmental protection in China. As a member of the international think tank the Club of Rome, Dr. Zhou recommended that the Club of Rome participate in the promotion of the draft. In August, Dr. Zhou met with the Legal Counselor of the French Embassy in China to discuss issues of common interest and explore the draft of the “Pact”. Dr. Zhou positively affirmed the draft’s emphasis on environmental rights and recommended that the Community of a Shared Future for the Mankind be added.
In May 2018, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution and decided to set up a special working group to hold consultations on the proposed "Pact". The resolution requested the UN Secretary-General to submit a report to the UN General Assembly to examine the loopholes in international environmental legislation. The working group will study the solution based on the report. If the working group considers it necessary to develop a new international legal document (the “Global Pact for the Environment”), it will recommend to the UN General Assembly that an intergovernmental meeting be held to discuss the development of the convention.
In the summer of 2018, Dr. Zhou joined the International Group of Experts for the “Pact” (IGEP, see details: http://pactenvironment.org/the-pact-expert-group/). In October, Dr. Zhou participated in the joint call of one hundred legal scholars around the world to adopt the “Pact” (for the signature campaign details, see: http://pactenvironment.emediaweb.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Liste-comple%CC%80te-des-signataires-EN-2.pdf). The joint signature news was reported by many world-renowned media including Le Monde and The Guardian.
According to media reports, during the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which ended in Buenos Aires, Argentina, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Ledrien, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Gu Tres held a meeting. At the conclusion of CBD COP14 and the opening of UNFCCC COP24, the three parties reaffirmed their joint efforts and cooperation with other partners. A strong commitment to addressing climate change, protecting the environment, and eradicating poverty and inequality. The three parties recognize that tackling challenges requires promoting deep transformation of the economy and society, promoting sustainable development, and building a community of a shared future for the mankind. The three parties agreed to work together on the link between climate change and biodiversity. China appreciates France's efforts to promote the “Global Pact for the Environment” initiative, which aims to address possible gaps between international environmental law and its implementation.
In this context, Dr. Zhou received a letter from Mr. Yann Aguila about the report released by the UN General Assembly on the review of international environmental law and environmental related instrument. Mr. Aguila’s words conveyed heartfelt gratification. He wrote:
I am delighted to announce the release of the ambitious report published by the United Nations Secretary-General on gaps in international environmental law. Please read, via this link, the PDF below:
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27070/SGGaps.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
We are pleased that the report is clearly and explicitly in favor of the Global Pact for the Environment.
The title of the report is a reference to the Global Pact for the Environment: “Gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments: towards a global pact for the environment”
The report clearly recommends the adoption of an international instrument to clarify and consolidate the general principles of international environmental law, as demonstrated in the following excerpts:
“International environmental law and its effective implementation could be strengthened through such actions as the clarification and reinforcement of comprehensive and unifying international instrument that gathers all the principles of environmental law. “(p.2)
“In this context, environmental principles may help to unify international environmental law’s current sectoral approach. A comprehensive and unifying international instrument clarifying all the principles of environmental law would contribute to making them more effective and strengthen their implementation.” (p.7)
“There is a need to further clarify the principles of environmental law, without prejudice to the legal developments already achieved in the issue-specific contexts of various multilateral environmental agreements. A comprehensive and unifying international instrument that gathers all the principles of environmental law could provide for better harmonization, predictability and certainty.” (p.43)
According to IUCN news, the report is “a technical and evidence-based report that identifies and assesses possible gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments with a view to strengthening their implementation. The report reviews and analyses the corpus of international environmental law and environment-related instruments as well as the governance structure and implementation of international environmental law. It reveals gaps and deficiencies at multiple levels.” The gap analysis report is a major milestone in the United Nations Environment (UNE)’s leadership on the Global Pact for the Environment process that formally started in May 2018 when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution setting in motion a process to discuss and potentially reach agreement on a new international environmental law instrument. This UNE “advanced” report is in English and subject to technical revisions, in accordance with standard UN Practice. Final version of all six UN language will be released later in December. The first substantive session on the “Pact” will be held at UNE headquarters in Nairobi 14-18 January 2019.
According to the latest news, the Global Pact for the Environment has just published a Press Release on the UN General Assembly report (see details: http://pactenvironment.org/).
(Photo credit: IUCN)
(Photo credit: pactenvironment.org)
Dr. Zhou exchanged with Mr. Yann Aguila (Photo: CBCGDF)
(Photo credit: pactenvironment.org)
Original Chinese article:
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4937/6952.html