My thanks to Her Excellency Nataša Pirc Musar, President of the Republic of Slovenia, for her opening remarks. And to her government and many other partners for kick-starting this discussion on how to implement the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
When the UN General Assembly recognized this right last year, it was a big win for millions of people buckling under the weight of the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.
People now have more power to stand up for their right to a healthy environment – including by demanding that these climate talks begin delivering massive cuts to greenhouse gas emissions. My thanks to everyone, many of you in this room, that advocated this right down the years and brought it to universal recognition.
Recognition by the General Assembly, and by the Human Rights Council before it, has encouraged additional recognition at national and regional levels. The right has been acknowledged in the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan. In the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In the Bonn Declaration for a Planet Free of Harm from Chemicals and Waste. And by a growing number of human rights bodies.
We have also seen more court cases brought against governments and companies demanding climate action and justice. A July report from UNEP and the Sabin Centre for Climate Change Law at Columbia University found that the total number of climate change court cases has more than doubled since 2017. This trend will continue.
Our task now is to transition from advocacy and recognition to strong and rapid implementation. If nations implement this right fully, it will change so much – by empowering action on the triple planetary crisis, providing a more predictable and consistent global regulatory environment for businesses, and protecting those who defend nature.
Friends,
The right is understood to include clear elements. Substantive elements include clean air. A safe and stable climate. Access to safe water and adequate sanitation. Healthy and sustainably produced food. Non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play. Healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. Procedural elements include access to information, the right to participate in decision-making, and access to justice and effective remedies – including the exercise of these rights free from reprisals. These are the elements upon which we must focus our efforts.
However, to fully implement the right, we must not forget to safeguard those who have been standing tall against environmental destruction for decades : environmental human rights defenders. These brave individuals and communities face intimidation, criminalization and death when they stand up to those who would devastate nature for profit. Hundreds of environmental defenders are killed each year. We must all stand with them and protect them.
There have been positive developments. UNEP’s Environmental Rule of Law report tells us that 48 out of 193 countries have enacted specific protections for environmental defenders, through domestic laws or by ratifying international agreements. Parties to The Escazu Agreement, in Latin America and the Caribbean, adopted a decision to operationalize the article on defenders in the Agreement. Parties to the Aarhus Convention have established the world’s first Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders.
But we must do more to protect those who protect the environment, and so all of us.
Closely linked is the need to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples , because Indigenous Peoples and environmental defenders are often one and the same. Doing so is in everybody’s best interests. Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge, customary legal systems and cultures have proved effective at conserving vast tracts of nature. Yet the rights of Indigenous Peoples are often violated or undermined. For example, conservation efforts, including the designation of national parks and other protected areas, have often led displaced Indigenous Peoples and denied them access to their traditional territories.
But we now have a chance to put Indigenous Peoples front and centre. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has several targets related to their Indigenous Peoples. We should ensure that these targets are met and include Indigenous Peoples and their rights in every environmental agreement that affects them and that they can affect.
This brings me to the need to deliver environmental justice for all, including through non-discriminatory participation in decision-making and access to justice. Because there can be no better future – for nature, the climate or people – without justice, equity and true inclusion.
Friends,
We at UNEP are pledging our efforts to help deliver on the right to a healthy environment, including through OHCHR’s Human Rights 75 Initiative. We at UNEP will work with all partners and nations to deliver on this right – because it applies to everyone and needs everyone. And because the environment makes our wellbeing possible. Underpins sustainable development. And enables the fulfilment of many other rights.
