Discuss the impact of environment delegation on society
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Delegates outlined a range of views on those matters as they scrutinized articles 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the draft treaty , which also focus on the preparation, content and publication of environmental impact assessment reports. In an afternoon session, they continued their ongoing consideration of cross-cutting issues relevant throughout the new instrument, including the possible establishment and proposed functions of a clearing house mechanism and a dedicated scientific and technical body.
Discussions on these and other topics are taking place at Headquarters during the third session of the International Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. The session runs through 30 August.
Participants broadly favoured the spirit of article 34 on public notification and consultations to be carried out prior to activities subject to environmental impact assessments under the new treaty. However, they expressed different views on the particular wording of its paragraphs. The representative of Trinidad and Tobago, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), agreed with other speakers that provisions for public notification and consultations are critical and said they should be inclusive, transparent and carried out “in a timely manner”. In addition, he called for the addition of a reference to small island developing States, a proposal echoed by the representative of Australia.
The observer for the State of Palestine — speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China and echoed by the representatives of Philippines, Seychelles, Indonesia and Singapore — called for specific references to “adjacent coastal States” throughout the article and advocated for early notification to be required. The representative of the Solomon Islands, on behalf of the Pacific small island developing States, emphasized that consultations must include small island developing States when they are adjacent to the impact assessment area.
The representative of the European Union delegation voiced support for the section as a whole and stressed that public notifications and consultations should be as open and transparent as possible. However, the bloc is not in favour of too much detail in article 34 and considers that references to “all relevant stakeholders” could suffice, instead of listing various individual entities. Proposing that the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity could put forward recommendations on the conduct of the environmental impact assessment process, she said the Union submitted an additional article, 34 bis, to that effect. She went on to outline her delegation’s preferred language for the article’s other paragraphs.