Rio+20: Call for Action from Lawyers and Environmental Law Organizations

Following the 3rd Worldwide Conference of Environmental Law NGOs and Lawyers from September 29-1 October in Limoges (France), more than 300 environmental lawyers have submitted a "call for action" as their contribution to the preparation of the Zero Draft of the outcome document for UNCSD (Rio+20). Of special note, is the call for:

World leaders to commit themselves to negotiating new Conventions or similar instruments on the environment that respond to urgent needs in regard to health, preservation of biodiversity and human rights, namely :
- An international Pact on environment and development
- A Convention on protection of soils
- A Convention on environmental impact assessment that includes consideration of social and cultural impacts and impacts related to energy consumption
- A Convention regarding pollution of the oceans and seas from terrestrial sources
- A Convention on marine protected areas on the high seas
- A Convention on exploitation of offshore oil
- A Convention on landscapes
- A Convention on environmental protection in the context of armed conflict
- A Convention on ecological catastrophes
- A Convention on the legal status of persons displaced for environmental reasons