This article introduces the conceptual foundations of the initiative towards the adoption of a Global Pact for the Environment. It first situates the search for a global framework instrument on environmental protection in a long‐term perspective and then discusses the main reasons why it is needed. Against this background, the article presents the current expression of this much broader trend, in the form of the initiative for a Global Pact for the Environment and the momentum it has generated in policy circles, first and foremost at the level of the United Nations General Assembly.
The Global Pact for the Environment is a project for an international treaty that seeks to recognize the environmental rights and duties of citizens, states, and businesses. The text of the initial Pact project was drafted in June 2017 by a network of over 100 environmental law experts from more than 40 countries. In May 2018, the United Nations General Assembly paved the way for its negotiation by adopting the resolution “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”. These talks resulted in a recommendation for states to adopt a “political declaration” in 2022 for the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference. This article retraces the origins of the Global Pact project and makes the case for its adoption. It argues that a Global Pact is the missing piece to implement the 2030 Agenda and would help to “constitutionalize” fundamental environmental principles. The article further responds to concerns raised about the Global Pact project, such as interactions with existing instruments, the applicability of broad principles at the national level, as well as the risk of regression. It ultimately asserts that all stakeholders would reap benefits from its procedural and substantive provisions, should it be adopted.
en a été le secrétaire général adjoint et a assuré les fonctions de commissaire du gouvernement près ses formations contentieuses. Il enseigne le droit public
These Proceedings remarks aim to address interrogations on a Global Pact for the Environment. A Global Pact for the Environment is a project for an international treaty that seeks to recognize environmental rights and duties for citizens, states, and businesses.
The environmental crisis compels humanity to redefine its relationship with nature. This calls for the principles that would guide the new pathway to be outlined and enshrined into a global treaty. An environmental charter for the future would serve the purpose of a social contract and define the norms which would allow humanity to coexist with its natural environment. In this context, this chapter argues that faith in the international system could be restored by a global agreement on the basic principles which are to guide the new system for international environmental governance. It will thus first focus on (i) exposing the merits of principles in a legal system, (ii) tackling the purely technical vision that weakens both the creation and implementation of international environmental law and (iii) finally, it will make the case for a global environmental charter that would enshrine fundamental principles and rejuvenate the values that founded the international system.
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