10 December 2018: On the heels of the release of the UN Secretary-General’s report on the global pact for the environment, the International Council of Environmental Law (ICEL) released 12 Charts that group in one place most of the environmental law principles that Governments have already accepted in their international agreements. ICEL also published a Note explaining how and why the forthcoming consultations on the global pact could reach consensus on the codification and progressive development of core principles of international environmental law.

ICEL is an expert international organization established in 1969. ICEL prepared the chart series with the Vance Center for International Justice and White & Case, an international law firm.

The charts were created to serve as a public resource for the UN Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group that will negotiate on the global pact in 2019. The Group was established by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss options to address possible gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments, and make recommendations.

The charts show the linkages between the proposed global pact and the SDGs, general principles of international soft law, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), and various regional environmental agreements.

The Note that is available alongside the charts was produced by ICEL with the International Group of Expert for the Pact (IGEP) and the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In an advance copy of a report on the global pact for the environment, released on 30 November, the UN Secretary-General notes that international environmental law and its effective implementation could be strengthened through a comprehensive and unifying international instrument that gathers all principles of environmental law. The report responds to UNGA resolution 72/277, adopted in May 2018, through which UN Member States requested the UN Secretary-General to submit “a technical and evidence-based” report that identifies and assesses possible gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments, with a view to strengthening their implementation.

The Working Group’s first substantive session on the global pact will be held from 14-18 January 2019, at the UN Environment Programme’s headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. By the UNGA resolution, the Working Group’s recommendations “may include the convening of an intergovernmental conference to adopt an international instrument.” [IUCN Press Release] [Pace Law School Library webpage for Global Pact]