Highlights for Tuesday, 19 March 2019

View of the dais during the plenary session
On Tuesday, delegations completed their deliberations based on four guiding questions issued by the Co-Chairs, Amal Mudallali, Lebanon, and Francisco Duarte Lopes, Portugal. The questions invited delegations to address:
Options to address possible gaps or challenges related to principles of International Environmental Law (IEL);
Options to address possible gaps related to the governance structure of IEL;
Options to address gaps or challenges relating to implementation of IEL; and
Options to address specific regulatory regimes or environment-related instruments.
An intensive round of bilateral activity involving advocates of a global pact also engaged the attention of delegations on the margins of the meeting in Nairobi.While some delegations continued to probe proposals for a new instrument and other related options, other delegations began to outline possible outcomes from the OEWG process, including:
An instrument incorporating a human rights and gender approach, and reference to planetary boundaries;
A compilation instrument incorporating the main principles of IEL;
A legally binding instrument or treaty, with provisions to safeguard or enhance environmental protection, and a list of IEL principles;
A high-level non-binding declaration incorporating the issues raised at the OEWG; and
A single outcome or an approach combining legally-binding and non-binding elements.
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, has provided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from the 2nd Substantive Session of the Ad Hoc Open Ended Working Group Towards a Global Pact for the Environment. The summary and analysis report is now available in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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Co-Chair Amal Mudallali, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lebanon

Vinicius Trindade, Brazil

Kangayatkarasu Nagulendran, Malaysia

Carmen Marques Ruiz, European Commission, with José Juste-Ruiz, Spain

Khawla Al-Muhannadi, Environment Friends Society, and Wael Aboulmagd, Egypt

From L-R: Lino Santacruz Moctezuma, Camila Zepeda Lizama, and Erasmo Martínez, Mexico

Shannon-Marie Soni, Canada, and Yacouba Savadogo, Burkina Faso

Abdelrahman Al-Gwaiz, Saudi Arabia

Helge Elisabeth Zeitler and Gudi Alkemade, European Union

Diégo Colas, with Remi Cluset, France

Marta Juarez Ruiz, Costa Rica

Elizabeth Taylor, Colombia

From L-R: Co-Chair Francisco António Duarte Lopes, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Portugal; Co-Chair Amal Mudallali, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lebanon; and Jamil Ahmad, UNEP

Yann Aguila, International Council of Environmental Law (ICEL)

Fabienne McLellan, OceanCare

María Caridad Balaguer Labrada, Cuba

Stadler Trengove, UN Legal Officer

Peter Doran, IISD Reporting Services (IISD-RS), with Anthony O'Grady, Ireland

IISD-RS writers discussing with Yann Aguila and Marie-Cécile de Bellis, ICEL

André Costa Lapeira and Peter Pitrez, Portugal

Nino Gokhelashvili, Georgia
Between Sessions