Latin American and Caribbean Group

  Highlights for Thursday, 17 January 2019 Co-Chairs Francisco António Duarte Lopes, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Portugal, and Amal Mudallali, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lebanon On Thursday, the first substantive session of the Ad hoc Open-Ended Working Group heard a brief report on the progress of deliberations this week in Nairobi. Co-Chair Francisco Duarte Lopes, Portugal, reported that many delegations had recognized the existence of gaps and challenges while others held different views, and further efforts would be needed to establish which gaps need to be addressed as part of the AHWG mandate. Delegates began to consider arrangements for a second substantive session in Nairobi. Lopes proposed to delegates that the provisional agenda for the second session could feature consideration of possible options to address possible gaps in international environmental law (IEL) and environment-related instruments. The upcoming session would give delegations “space for sharing views” ahead of recommendations to the UNGA. Delegations and others, including civil society, were invited to provide further written inputs to the Co-Chairs, ideally by 20 February 2019. Discussion of various counter-proposals from delegations is to be taken up on Friday. Some voiced concerns about having enough time to prepare meaningful contributions to a second session. Delegates also began to consider the final chapter of the Secretary-General’s report, which focuses on conclusions. Among the issues raised were, inter alia: Attitudes to the Secretary-General’s report, and whether it had gone beyond its mandate; Whether the case has begun to be made for bringing all IEL principles into a new international instrument (pact); The contribution of non-binding and national-level approaches to environmental law, including the Stockholm and Rio Declarations; Limiting a new instrument to areas of IEL with no current institutional home; The AHWG’s need for new information inputs, including a comprehensive analysis of IEL principles and environment-related instruments; and Possible recommendations to the UNGA to encourage related work on IEL. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, is providing daily web coverage and will provide a summary and analysis report from the 1st Substantive Session of the Ad Hoc Open Ended Working Group Towards a Global Pact for the Environment. Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page. Shard Sapra, India, with Jean-Marc Séré-Charlet, France Camila Zepeda Lizama, Mexico, and Lino Santacruz Moctezuma, Mexico Alexandra Gonzales Arguedas, and Marta Juarez Ruiz, Costa Rica Melissa Cotterill, Australia Alassane Conte, Guinea Delegates from the GRULAC region conferring during a break. Raza Bashir Tarar, Pakistan Fernando Coimbra, Brazil Victoria Sulimani, Sierra Leone Feng Xu, China Tom Okurut, Uganda Dragan Županjevac, Serbia Birthe Ivars, Norway Troy Torrington, Guyana Maribe Mujinga Nsompo, Democratic Republic of the Congo Abdu al-Sharif and Abdullah Tawlah, Saudi Arabia Lazhar Soualem, Algeria Mariline Diara, Senegal Vigen Ananyan, Armenia Nassira Rheyati, Morocco From L-R: Oleg Senchenko, Russian Federation; Lori Dando, US; Ian Naumkin, Russian Federation Antonio Benjamin, International Council of Environmental Law (ICEL) Raoul Renard, International Chamber of Commerce Alphonce Muia and Hellen Mugo, Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA) Lori Dando, US, with Co-Chair Amal Mudallali, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lebanon From L-R: Antonio Benjamin, ICEL; Fernando Coimbra, Brazil; and Vinicius Trindade, Brazil Abdullah Tawlah, Saudi Arabia, with Jamil Ahmad, UN Environment (UNEP) Martin Gronda, Argentina, and Vigen Ananyan, Armenia Stadler Trengove, UN Legal Officer, discussing with the IISD Reporting Services team. Around the venue  

  Highlights for Tuesday, 15 January 2019 Delegates from the GRULAC region conferring during a break. On the second day of the first substantive session of the Ad hoc Open-ended Working Group (AHWG) established by the UN General Assembly to consider a technical and evidence-based report by the Secretary-General (A/73/419) identifying and assessing possible gaps in international environmental law (IEL) and environment-related instruments, delegations began a chapter-by-chapter consideration of its introduction and of chapters on gaps concerning principles of IEL and gaps relating to existing regulatory regimes. Member states’ reflections related to, inter alia: Authoritative sources of principles of IEL and related instruments; Questions about the report’s analysis of gaps in the IEL system, including the evidence provided for this analysis; The report’s treatment of issues such as universalization and the role and underlying causes of fragmentation in IEL; The prioritization of universal participation and/or addressing implementation and compliance; The need for the AHWG to remain within its mandate; Consideration of established principles such as common but differentiated responsibilities and sovereignty over resources, and of the risk of undoing established context-specific principles in existing multilateral environmental agreements; Missing elements such as the intrinsic value of nature, planetary boundaries, and environmental justice; Consideration of new and emergent principles (e.g. intergenerational equity, environmental democracy, earth system approaches), including some already incorporated in regional environmental instruments, and consideration of principles in need of updating or qualification; The relationship between IEL and human rights, and other regimes; and The unintended consequences of certain principles such as non-regression and a possible weakening of new commitments in the context of IEL. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, povided daily web coverage and a summary and analysis report from the 1st Substantive Session of the Ad Hoc Open Ended Working Group Towards a Global Pact for the Environment. Photos by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page. From L-R: Co-Chair Francisco António Duarte Lopes, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Portugal; Jamil Ahmad, UN Environment (UNEP); and Co-Chair Amal Mudallali, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Lebanon Kevin Khng, Singapore Dmitry Maksimychev, Russian Federation Lazhar Soualem, Algeria Maribe Mujinga Nsompo, Democratic Republic of the Congo Dragan Županjevac, Serbia Wael Aboulmagd, Egypt Abdu al-Sharif, Saudi Arabia Jean Kenfack, Cameroon Sebastian König and Marco Crugnola, Switzerland Carlos Ivan Zambrana Flores, Bolivia Zerubabel Getachew, Ethopia Birthe Ivars, Norway Samuel Victor Makwe, Nigeria Delegates from Saudi Arabia and Egypt Marianne Simeon, Benin Thiyu Kohoga Essobiyou, Togo Haibo Gou, China, and Abdullah Tawlah, Saudi Arabia Brenda Muntemba, Zambia, and Marta Juarez Ruiz, Costa Rica Camila Zepeda Lizama, Mexico Maria del Rosario Lemos, with Sergio Salazar Alzate, Colombia Atsushi Iwasaki, Japan Natalie Jones, IISD Reporting Services, and Maria del Mar Requena, Spain Peter Doran, IISD Reporting Services, and Maribe Mujinga Nsompo, Democratic Republic of the Congo From L-R: Martin Gronda, Argentina; Alejandro Garofali, Uruguay; and Marcelo Cousillas, Uruguay Troy Torrington, Guyana Mariline Diara, Senegal Delegates from China and Switzerland during a break Janice Cox, World Animal Net Paulo Magalhães, Common Home of Humanity Rossana Silva Repetto, Executive Secretary, Minamata Convention on Mercury Delegates were briefed on the security situation in the city centre following a terrorist incident. Around the venue  

Delegates negotiating compromise language on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) On Thursday, plenary elected the members of the compliance committees of the Cartagena and Nagoya Protocols, and elected Basile van Havre (Canada) and Francis Ogwal (Uganda) as Co-Chairs of the Working Group on the post-2020 framework. Following informal consultations on digital sequence information under the Nagoya Protocol, safeguards in biodiversity financing mechanisms, and ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs), plenary adopted the meeting’s reports and decisions, including the budget. Delegates heard regional statements, and followed a video presentation on the 2020 Conference, to be held in Beijing, China. CBD Executive Secretary Cristiana Paşca Palmer outlined the successes of the meeting, including, among others: committing to an inclusive and flexible preparatory process for the post-2020 framework; calling for a UN decade on ecosystem restoration; and committing to the final “two-year sprint towards the Aichi finish line.” She further emphasized the need to: “bend the curve” of biodiversity loss; move from a model of incremental change to transformational change; and recognize that saving cultural diversity goes hand-in-hand with saving biological diversity. UN Biodiversity Conference President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, emphasized the spirit of mutual respect that prevailed during the Conference. She stressed that “marvelous work was done willingly and lovingly,” inviting delegates and participants to take the message “one step higher to raise the bar and materialize all the decisions that have been agreed.” She gaveled the Conference to a close at 9:02 pm.   IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, has provided daily reports, daily web coverage, and a summary and analysis from the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference. Photos by IISD/ENB | Franz Dejon For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Dais durng plenary observed a moment of silence in memory of colleagues who passed away Conference participants observed a moment of silence Hayo Haanstra (the Netherlands), Chair of Working Group I Clarissa Nina (Brazil), Chair of Working Group II Monyrak Meng (Cambodia), Rapporteur Elena Makeyeva, Belarus Final day of the plenary session of the UN Biodiversity Conference Delegates from Mexico Helmut Gaugitsch, EU Rosemary Paterson, New Zealand Ga Youn Cho, Republic of Korea Norbert Bärlocher, Switzerland Ghanim Abdulla, Qatar Mitzi Gurgel Valente da Costa, Brazil Salomón Botero Bermudez, youngest meeting participant, with the Colombian delegation Christiane Paulus, Germany Ralph Sontag, Pew Charitable Trusts Win Naing Thaw, Myanmar Holly Kelley-Weil, UK L-R: Anwar Al-Hemiary and Abdulghani Al-Bokwali, Yemen Wendy Yap, Singapore Gurdial Singh, Malaysia Sarah Wyatt, The Global Environment Facility Ali Mansoor Abbas Abdulla, Bahrain Khaled Fouda Saddiq Mohammed, Governor of South Sinai, Egypt Cristiana Paşca Palmer, CBD Executive Secretary Christine von Weizsäcker, ECOROPA, for the International Women's Biodiversity Network L-R: Christian Schwarzer, Mirna Ines Fernandez, and Sharath Kolan Reddy, Global Youth Biodiversity Network Humberto Delgado Rosa, EU Marci Gompers-Small, Suriname, for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Chengshou Bai, China Helena Brown, Antigua and Barbuda, for the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC) Delegates from South Africa COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, joined by her son Ali Hussein Shabana COP 14 President Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, gaveled the meeting to a close at 9:02 pm Delegates from China Delegates from the EU Delegates from Austria Delegates from IUCN Delegates from UN Environment Programme Basile van Havre, Canada, with Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, CBD Secretariat COP 14 ENB team with (front row) Nicole Schabus, Elaine Limjoco, Lynn Finnegan, and Amanda Rude; (back row) Francis Dejon, Asheline Appleton, Merium Fouad, Elsa Tsioumani, and Asterios Tsioumanis