On 10 May 2018, the UN General Assembly (the Assembly) adopted, resolution 72/277 entitled “Towards a Global Pact for the Environment”.
According to the resolution’s text, the Assembly decided to establish an ad hoc open‑ended working group to consider 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 Assembly decided that the ad hoc open-ended working group shall hold the following sessions:
(a) An organizational session, to be held for a duration of three working days, by the end of the seventy-second session of the General Assembly, in New York, to examine matters related to the organization of the work of the ad hoc open-ended working group, including the duration and number of its substantive sessions; and
(b) Substantive sessions, to be held in Nairobi, the first of which at least one month after the submission of the report of the Secretary-General.
The organizational session was held at United Nations Headquarters in New York between 5-7 September 2018. The first substantive session was held at the United Nations Office in Nairobi from 14-18 January 2019. The second substantive session was held at the United Nations Office in Nairobi from 18-20 March 2019. The third substantive session
of the working group shall meet in Nairobi, between 20-22 May 2019.
Participation at the open-ended working group is open to representatives of Member States and all Members of Specialized Agencies. Attendance at the sessions of the ad hoc open-ended working group as observers is open to representatives of the United Nations Specialized Agencies, the United Nations Funds and Programmes, the secretariats of the Multilateral Agreements (MEAs), inter-governmental organizations, relevant non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, as well as to those that were accredited to relevant conferences and summits.
Please provide concrete proposal, in particular those expressed during the discussion on possible options to address possible gaps in international environmental law and environment-related instruments. Proposals should be submitted to the co-chairs as soon as possible, and not later than 20 April 2019 at the following address: unenvironment-law-director@un.org and environmentny@un.org. When sending the concrete proposals, please indicate whether you wish to see them posted on UNEP´s website.
