Is the Global Pact on Environmental Rights a good idea?
Introduction The idea of a g lobal pact on environmental rights presented last week at UN is clearly a bold idea and those associated with it should be commended for thinking outside the box. But having looked at what they are proposing I don't think it is the right direction to go and I worry it will absorb a lot of time and effort which could be focused on achieving real change. The proposal would also likely water down present agreements and I cant see the US, China, India and others signing up for it. Which some of them did actually say. Clearly, one thing that needs to happen is that present agreements need to be implemented much better than they are. There is a very good review of why the pact is perhaps not a good idea in a paper by Susan Binaz called 10 Questions to Ask About the Proposed “Global Pact for the Environment” which you can read here. So, what is the Pact attempting to address? One of the critical issues ...