Phase II: Adoption of the Resolution (Sept. 2017 - May 2018)

• Author: Maria Antonia Tigre
• Pages: 31-46

31

Chapter 2: Phase II: Adoption

of the Resolution (Sept.

2017 – May 2018)

The French delegation introduced the Global Pact on the sidelines of

the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly (UNG A) in a high-

level event titled “Summit on a Global Pact for the Environment.”1

Between September 2017 and May 2018, Member States held closed doors

negotiations to draft a resolution unfolding the proces s of debating a potential

global pact. In May 2018, the UNGA adopted a resolution titled “Towards

a Global Pact for the Environment,” by which Member States requested the

UN Secretar y-General to submit a report identifying and assessing possible

gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instru-

ments and to establish an ad hoc open-ended working group (OEWG) to

consider the report and discuss options to address said gaps with a view to

making recommendations.2

is chapter focuses on the process of adopting Resolution No. 72/277.

Phase II, entitled Adoption of the Resolution, relates to the beginning of the

discussions of a potential Global Pact at the United Nations, starting from

the high-level event held by the French delegation in September 2017 to the

adoption of the resolution in May 2018. Section I covers the high-level event

held at the 72nd UNGA, in which French President Macron presented the

Global Pact to UN delegates. Part II relates to the subsequent period at the

UNGA, in which the diplomatic process for the adoption of a resolution

unfolded behind closed doors. Additionally, several academic and d iplomatic

events were held to support the GPE, gathering support for the proposal. Sec-

tion III focuses on the draf t resolution submitted by the French government

and its adoption in May 2018. Section IV includes a brief commentary on

the resolution. Resolution No. 72/277 is reprinted at the end of this chapter.

e timeline below portrays Phase II.

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

Environment, F D, Sept. 19, 2017, http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-

foreign-policy/united-nations/united-nations-general-assembly-sessions/unga-s-72nd-session/article/

speech-by-m-emmanuel-macron-president-of-the-republic-summit-on-the-global-pact.

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

32 Gaps in International Environmental Law

Figure 2: Phase II Timeline “Adoption of the

Resolution” (Sept. 2017 – May 2018):

Sep t. 2 017

Summit on a Glo bal Pact

for the Environ ment (72nd

UNGA)

Sept . 2017-May 2 018

Closed doors negotiation

May 2 018

Adoption of Res olution

No. 72/ 277

I. September 2017: 72nd United Nations General

Assembly

e Summit on a Global Pact for the Environment was held at the UN head-

quarters in New York as a side event to the high-level segment of the 72nd

session of the UNGA on September 19th, 2017.3 e Secretary-General of

the UN, 40 Heads of State and Government, Ministers, representatives from

UN institutions and gures from civil society attended the Summit. French

President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech announcing the Global Pact as

the “next phase” in environmental protection.4 Noting the protection of

nature as a daily battle for the UN and its agencies, and the rise of state-

ments, conventions, and protocols that promote joint eorts in environmen-

tal protection, President Macron said that it was our common responsibility

to take the next step and go further in transforming our societies, taking

resolute action for environmental protection.5 He added:

“A framework that will promote at the highe st level peoples’ and governments’

ambitions for protecting the planet. A framework that wi ll establish rig hts,

but also duties for mank ind as regards nature and therefore as reg ards itself.

is collective fr amework is the Global Pact for the Env ironment.(…) I very

strongly believe that t he world is ready for this and that it’s our responsibility;

and rather than spend too much time wondering whether we should reopen

3. Macron, supra note 1.

4. UN / G P E (UN Multimedia, Sept. 19, 2017), http://www.unmultimedia.

org/avlibrary/asset/1972/1972090/.

5. Summit on a Global Pact for the Environment, Concept Note (Sept. 19, 2017), https://wedocs.unep.

org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/21712/Global%20Pact%20for%20the%20environnement%20

-%20Concept%20note%20%28France%29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.