How a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’ could add value to international environmental law

• Author: Christina Voigt
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12288
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Date: 01 April 2019

RECIEL. 2019;28:13–24.

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1 | INTRODUCTION: A PACT FOR WHAT?

The initiative fo r a Global Pact for the Enviro nment was launched by

French President Emmanuel Macron at the United Nations (UN)

General Assembly in September 2017 during a special event. It is

based on variou s previous attempts to es tablish a global ‘pact f or na-

ture’,1  informed by input from the French Club des Juris tes together

with a group of experts in international environmental law, and

chaired by the president of the 2015 Paris climate conference and

President of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic,

Laurent Fabius.2 

The proponent s of the initiative sugges t that the Global Pact for

the Environment s hould be a global legally bindi ng covenant for in-

ternational environmental law and a major reference for global

1 Examples i nclude t he Ear th Char ter (see , e.g. M L avrik, A J imenez a nd M Vile la, ‘Th e

Global Pac t for the Enviro nment as a Nex t Step on the Way For ward for the Ea rth Char ter’

(Earth Charter International Secre tariat 2018) <http://earthcharter.org/wp-content/up-

loads/2018/07/Global-Pact-and-Earth-Charter-2018.pdf>); the World Charter for

Nature; and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.

2 ‘Draft Gl obal Pac t for the Env ironmen t’ (24 June 20 17) <https: //www.iucn.o rg/sites/

dev/files/content/documents/draft-project-of-the-global-pact-for-the-environment.

pdf>. For furth er background , see Y Aguila and J Vi ñuales, ‘A Global Pa ct for the

Environment: Conceptual Foundations’ (2019) 28 Review of European, Comparative and

International Environmental Law 3.

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12288

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

How a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’ could add value to

international environmental law

Christina Voigt

©2019JohnWiley&SonsLtd,9600GarsingtonRoad,OxfordOX42DQ,UKand350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148,USA.

Correspondence

Email: christina.voigt@jus.uio.noThe initiative for a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’ has over the course of the last

year evolved into a global disco urse. The United Nations (UN) Genera l Assembly, the

UN Secretary-General, UN Environment Programme, UN member States and a vast

varietyofnongovernmentalorganizationsandacademicsareconsideringtheneed

for and possible content of a Pact. It appears that to gather necessary political sup-

port, a Pact needs to add value to already existing international environmental law.

This article offers input into the debate as to whether and how a Global Pact could

achieve this. It argues that a Global Pact needs not be limited to a legally binding

treaty instrument that codifies environmental principles. Rather, it could be and do

many things and shoul d be guided by what is needed to increase th e effectiveness of

environmental protection. In a plurality of ways, a Pact could address challenges in

the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), help overcome

coordination deficits between MEAs and between MEAs and other international

treaties, or brin g together actors from the public a nd private sector. It could provide a

commonvisionforglobalenvironmentalactionand/oraframeworkforbringingthe

different pieces, for instance sectoral and spatial agreements, together. Moreover, it

could advance the development of international environmental law into areas that

thus far have not been covere d. The article gives a brief his tory of the initiative for the

Global Pact , placing it against the nature and s tructure of international envi ronmental

law. It analyses the propos als made so far as to the possible sco pe, nature and content

of such instrument, and provides suggestions for how it could contribute to the in-

creased effectiveness, scope or scale of international environmental law.