PROGRESS AND SETBACKS IN THE NEGOTIATING PROCESS OF THE GLOBAL PACT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

On 20 May 2019, the ad hoc open-ended Working Group appointed by the General Assembly of the United Nations to study the future negotiation process of a Global Pact for the Environment, gave a turn to the negotiations postponing several years its outcome and renouncing to its conventional nature. The change of course that has been adopted also affects the objectives of the proposal of the Pact presented by France that pursued the adoption of a general treaty for the protection of the environment. The French proposal had its origin in the text prepared by the "Club de Juristes" -a non-state academic actor-, which after being endorsed by France had become the soft law instrument that triggered the adoption of the Resolution 72/277 of the General Assembly. Its ultimate goal was to codify the principles of international environmental law and recognize third-generation rights that would allow civil society to protect the environment. In the new vision of the Pact, the focus of attention is on improving the application of environmental law, a goal that would be achieved with the adoption of a Declaration of Principles respectful of the sovereignty of States in 2022 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment.