Green pact supporters launch Paris campaign

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to play an active role in a campaign aimed at securing a global pact to protect the human right to a clean and healthy environment.He made the pledge at a meeting at Sorbonne University where politicians, legal experts, and activists presented him with draft proposals for such a pact.Macron has been pushing to maintain momentum generated by a global agreement to combat climate change reached in Paris in 2015, after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out, drawing condemnation from other leaders.“On the basis of this draft proposal, I pledge to act ... so that the work initiated continues, so that we reach a text, convince our partners, place these efforts under the aegis of the UN ... and from September have the basis of a world environment pact,” Macron told his audience.Attendees at the Sorbonne included former California governor turned green activist Arnold Schwarzenegger and former UN chief Ban Ki-moon.It was chaired by former French prime minister Laurent Fabius, who chaired the 2015 conference on climate change.Under the Paris accord, countries committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases generated by burning fossil fuels that are blamed by scientists for warming the planet.“Less talk, more action,” Fabius urged.Seeking to underline the urgency of the need to act, he borrowed the turn of phrase from Schwarzenegger.Other participants at the meeting at the Sorbonne University included high court judges from several countries.The legal brains behind the pact worked into the night to put the final touches to the draft which was then to be handed over to their host, Macron.The end goal, organisers said midweek, is a legal treaty under which states can be brought to justice for flouting the rights of a group or individual.The new pact will eventually be put to the United Nations for adoption, and impose legally-binding obligations on signatory states, its drafters say.“We already have two international (human rights) pacts ... the idea is to create a third, for a third generation of rights – environmental rights,” Fabius said ahead of chairing yesterday’s meeting.The earlier covenants – one for social, economic and cultural rights, the other for civil and political rights – were adopted by the UN in 1966.Fabius says the new text should outline rights and duties, provide for reparations to be made in case of a breach, and introduce the “polluter pays” principle, holding them legally responsible or compelling them to adopt green laws.That would be in marked contrast to earlier declarations such as that made following the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio which was not legally binding.“It is absolutely imperative that we not make it a political issue,” Schwarzenegger said.“This is not the right versus the left because there is no liberal air or conservative air. We all breathe the same air. There is no liberal water or conservative water, we all drink the same water,” the star of The Terminator movies said.Just a few weeks after Trump announced he was pulling America out of the Paris Climate accord, Schwarzenegger said all countries had to work together in order to protect the environment.“It is extremely important in order for us to be successful in creating a green and clean future for our children and grandchildren, which is a responsibility that we have, to hand the world in better shape to the next generation than we inherited it,” he said.“We all have to work together in order to get this done,” Schwarzenegger said, adding that he and Macron had discussed the climate issue in depth during their meeting.He praised the French leader as a formidable force for France and for the world, particularly on environmental issues, which were something that “we both feel very passionate about”.