The UNGA Resolution on a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’: A chance to put the horse before the cart

• Date: 01 April 2019
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12281
• Author: Susan Biniaz

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

The UNGA Resolution on a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’:

A chance to put the horse before the cart

Susan Biniaz

Correspondence

Email: susan.biniaz@yale.edu While the ‘Global Pact for the Environment’endorsed by France did not provide a

compelling link between its approach and a particular environmental problem,

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 72/277 sets out a linear meth-

odological approach by asking a working group to consider whether there are possi-

ble ‘gaps’in existing environmental law and policy and, if so, to discuss possible

options for addressing them. This article discusses the concept of a ‘gap’, identifies

several types of gaps that could be included in the UNGA work and points to possi-

ble ways in which such gaps may be filled. It illustrates how States could analyse

gaps using four possible cases, including the domestic implementation of international

commitments, climate change, substantive environmental rights and ocean plastics.

Rather than jumping to pursue an overarching agreement including legally binding prin-

ciples, the article argues that Resolution 72/277 offers States the opportunity to step

back and methodically consider the most important missing pieces in international envi-

ronmental law andpolicy, and the best manner andforum to address them.

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INTRODUCTION

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 72/277,

1

at

least on paper, appears to rectify one of the flaws in the original

French proposal for a new international environmental agreement,

the ‘Global Pact for the Environment’. The draft agreement,

endorsed by France,

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did not provide a compelling link between its

approach and a particular environmental problem, leaving many

readers confused and concerned. By contrast, the Resolution sets

out a linear methodological approach. It asks a working group to

consider whether there are possible ‘gaps’in existing environmental

law and policy and, if so, to discuss possible options for addressing

them. These might include one or more new international instru-

ments. States should take advantage of this opportunity to consider

the issues systematically and non‐politically, in the hopes of focus-

ing global effort on key areas in need of strengthened international

attention.

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THE ORIGINAL FRENCH PROPOSAL

France's proposed ‘Global Pact for the Environment’took the form

of a legally binding instrument addressing a dizzying array of sub-

jects, including human rights, environmental principles, climate

change, the law of war and so on.

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Substantively, the draft text was highly problematic.

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It was,

among other things, confused about its purpose, misguided in its

one‐size‐fits‐all‐environmental‐issues approach, unclear as to its

effect on existing international environmental law and potentially

undermining of current agreed environmental principles.

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UNGA ‘Towards a Global Pact for the Environment’UN Doc A/RES/72/277 (10 May 2018)

(‘Resolution 72/277’).

2

‘Speech by M. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic: Summit on the Global Pact

for the Environment (New York, 19 September 2017)’<https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/

french-foreign-policy/united-nations/events/united-nations-general-assembly-sessions/

unga-s-72nd-session/article/speech-by-m-emmanuel-macron-pres ident-of-the-republic-sum

mit-on-the-global-pact>.

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‘Draft Global Pact for the Environment’<http://pactenvironment.emediaweb.fr/wp-conte

nt/uploads/2018/11/EN.pdf>.

4

S Biniaz, ‘10 Questions to Ask about the Proposed “Global Pact for the Environment”’

(Sabin Center for Climate Change Law 2017) <http://columbiaclimatelaw.com/files/2017/

08/Biniaz-2017-08-Global-Pact-for-the-Environment.pdf>.

DOI: 10.1111/reel.12281

RECIEL. 2019;28:33–39. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

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