Story | 07 Jul, 2017

Global Pact for the Environment Introduced to the World

High-level politicians, international jurists, and scholars convened in Paris on 23-24 June to finalize and launch the preliminary draft of the “Global Pact for the Environment” as a unifying covenant for fundamental environmental rights.

Emmanuel Macron, Ban Ki-moon and Laurent Fabius presenting the Pact

Laurent Fabius, Emmanuel Macron and Ban Ki-moon presenting the Pact

Photo: Michel Richard

The Drafting Committee convening under its Chair Laurent Fabius at the French Constitutional Court

Photo: WCEL

Comparing the French and English versions of the Pact

Photo: WCEL

French President Emmanuel Macron endorsing the Pact

Photo: Michel Richard

A new initiative to prepare, introduce, and eventually adopt the “Global Pact for the Environment” is being chaired by Laurent Fabius (President of the Constitutional Council of the French Republic and former President of the Paris Climate Conference). With operational support from the Club des Juristes (France’s first think tank), a drafting committee was convened on Friday, 23 June. Meeting into the night, the 30-member committee drew conclusions, harmonized the principles from a human rights perspective, and finalized the 26 articles of the draft Pact. The resulting text was then publicly presented on Saturday, 24 June during an event at the Sorbonne in the presence of Ban Ki-moon (former UN Secretary-General), Arnold Schwarzennegger (Chair of the R20 – Regions of Climate Action), Laurent Fabius, Zhang Xinsheng (President of IUCN), and many others. French President Emmanuel Macron was the closing speaker vowing to personally act, on the basis of the preliminary draft, to lay the foundations for its adoption as a new global covenant by the United Nations General Assembly.