Latin American and Caribbean Group

Highlights for Thursday, 28 February 2019 The Council during Thursday’s proceedings On Thursday, the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) focused on issues related to the Enterprise, an organ foreseen in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as ISA’s own mining arm. Delegates discussed the operationalization of the Enterprise, a joint venture proposal with the Government of Poland, and a draft decision on the terms of reference for the Special Representative for the Enterprise.Highlights of the day include: exchange of ideas on operationalizing the Enterprise, which many delegates see as an important manifestation of the common heritage principle; an initial discussion on a draft proposal for a joint venture between the ISA and Poland, with a view to have on the agenda a full proposal for consideration at the next Council session, in July 2019; deliberations on developing a set of rules and regulations that will govern future joint ventures; insights from Eden Charles (Trinidad and Tobago), Special Representative for the Enterprise; and extensive negotiations on the terms of reference for the renewal of the term of the Special Representative. For more details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin. IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 1st Part of ISA-25. In addition, IISD Reporting Services, has published a summary and analysis report of the meeting, which is available in HTML and PDF. Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera For photo reprint permissions, please follow instructions at our Attribution Regulations for Meeting Photo Usage Page Michael Lodge, ISA Secretary-General, and Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General, consult during plenary Eden Charles, Trinidad and Tobago, Special Representative for the Enterprise Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil, on behalf of GRULAC Tomasz Grysa, Holy See Victoria García Ojeda, Spain Mariusz Orion Jędrysek, Poland Tommo Monthe, Cameroon Lumka Yengeni, South Africa, Council President for the 25th Session Mehdi Remaoun, Algeria, on behalf of the African Group Guy Sevrin and Patrik Schotte, Belgium Tevita Suka Mangisi, Tonga Didier Ortolland, France Russell Howorth and Malakai Finau, Fiji Graham Leung, Nauru Duncan Currie, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) Discussions among German delegates Major Tano Koffi Bertin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tommo Monthe, Cameroon Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General, confers with Michelle Walker, Jamaica Lowri Mai Griffiths, UK; Rena Lee, Singapore; and Kenneth Wong, Canada L-R: Gwénaëlle Le Gurun, ISA Secretariat; Thembile Joyini, South Africa; Michael Lodge, ISA Secretary-General; and Eden Charles, Trinidad and Tobago, Special Representative for the Enterprise Delegates discuss the draft decision on the Special Representative for the Enterprise Tomasz Grysa, Holy See, and Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, ISA Legal Counsel and Deputy to the Secretary-General Esther Salamanca Aguado and Victoria García Ojeda, Spain, and Aline Jaeckel, Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) Delegates during an informal meeting Laurens J. de Jonge, Wini Broadbelt, and Tom Diederen, the Netherlands Maruthadu Sudhakar and G. Ananda Ramadass, India Tevita Suka Mangisi, Rose Lesley Kautoke, Yumi Nafe, and Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu, Tonga ISA Secretariat staff celebrates the International Women’s Day Around the Venue A view from the venue as the sun goes down The ENB team at the 1st Part of ISA-25 (L-R) Asterios Tsioumanis, Greece; Nancy Williams, US; Priscila Pereira de Andrade, Brazil; Teya Penniman, US; Diego Noguera, Colombia; and Nicole de Paula, Brazil

  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