Third Consultation on the 2022 Declaration

From 16 to 18 February 2022, UN Member States will meet in Nairobi for a third informal consultation on the draft political declaration mandated by UN General Assembly resolution 73/333.

This third session follows a first one which took place in July 2020 and a second in November 2021. It will once again be the occasion for Member States to undertake line-by-line negotiations on the content of the political declaration. A new draft of the declaration was published by the co-facilitators on February 3rd following remarks and amendments made by Member States during the previous consultations.

The objective of this declaration is to strengthen the implementation of international environmental law and governance. It will be adopted at UNEP@50, the summit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), from 3 to 4 March 2022.

The latest draft recognizes the right to a healthy environment in its preamble. This provision stems the recent Human Rights Council resolution enshrining this same right. However, the wording on related rights to information, participation and access to justice remains strikingly similar to the language used in the 1992 Rio Declaration. While conducive to consensus, the recycling of agreed-upon language casts doubts on the pace of progress in international environmental law.