The experts’ drafted text must be seen as a preliminary version, as a contribution to international civil society that reflexes States. Acting as a treaty, the State representatives will negotiate the final text of the Global Pact for the environment.
The Pact drafted in 2017 by the experts GEP is structured as a Preamble and 20 principles, complemented by 6 final clause articles. It is founded on two main and interdependent principles, a right and a duty: the right to a sound environment and the duty to care for the environment.
The project includes a series of largely established principles. It includes on the one hand substantial principles (duty to prevent and to repair environmental damages, principle of precaution, principle of integration of sustainable development objectives in the governmental policies) and on the other hand some procedural principles ( right to information, principle of public participation to the development of environmental decisions, right to have access to environmental justice). Furthermore, the preliminary draft of the Pact is innovative, like an official recognition of the role civil society plays in environmental protection or even the non-regression principle, that prohibits environmental legislation from regressing.
Finally, the text proposed by the experts also envisions Pact control mechanisms ensuring effectiveness. The follow up Pact committee will constitute a forum for exchanging experiences between States, and formulating useful recommendations for all, in light of national best practices.
