14.3.2019

Countries Debate the Need for a Global Pact for the Environment

Global Pact and ECThe working group for UN General Assembly resolution 72/277, “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment,” will meet for the second substantive session from 18 to 20 March 2019, in Nairobi. A series of meetings and negotiation sessions are planned with the vision of moving ahead the proposal of developing a Global Pact for the Environment. If agreed upon, the Global Pact would be the first international instrument that covers all environmental areas.

The group met for the first time in January 2019, during which Member States discussed the UN Secretary-General’s report “Gaps in International Environmental Law and Environment-Related Instruments: Towards a Global Pact for the Environment.” Member States also discussed the links between this working group and Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

As a response to this effort, the Earth Charter International Secretariat published the article “The Global Pact for the Environment as a Next Step on the Way Forward for the Earth Charter.” The article points out the links between the Earth Charter and the Global Pact, and argues that the Global Pact could also have a role in implementing the values and the principles of the Earth Charter.

Read more about the ECI article on the Global Pact for the Environment and the Earth Charter here.

Click here for more information on the Global Pact for the Environment.

Click here to read more about the First Substantive Session on the Global Pact.

Click here for a summary report of the first work session from IISD.