UNITED NATIONS: Five decades after the world’s first conference to make the environment a major issue, UN human rights experts called on States to redouble efforts to protect the imperiled planet for current and future generations amid unprecedented challenges.
Some communities suffer from environmental injustices where the exposure to pollution and toxic substances is so extreme that they are described as ˜sacrifice zones, they said in a joint statement. Given humanity’s trajectory on toxics, climate change, and biodiversity loss, the planet is at risk of becoming a human sacrifice zone.
David Boyd, the special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, urged States to put the right to a healthy environment at the centre of all discussions and outcomes at the Stockholm+50 conference on June 2 and 3, and to implement constitutional changes and stronger environmental laws, stemming from the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
Echoing that call, Marcos Orellana, UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, also said that we should not forget how human rights inspired key elements of the original 1972 Stockholm Declaration.
This is a key moment for international environmental law to change direction and embrace a human rights-based approach to environmental protection, he added. The experts insisted that putting human rights at the centre of environmental action will have positive implications for air quality, clean water, healthy soil, and sustainably produced food.
A rights-based approach would also help green energy, climate change, biodiversity and the elimination of toxic substances, and (the) protection of indigenous people’s rights, they added.
Standing in the way of progress on environmental action are multiple challenges, including climate shocks, biodiversity loss, and pollution – all of which impact on the enjoyment of human rights, the experts maintained.
In October 2021, in a landmark resolution, the Human Rights Council in Geneva recognized for the first time the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
The resolution marked the culmination of decades of efforts by civil society organizations, including youth groups, national human rights institutions and indigenous peoples.
Kaye and Orellana, together with fellow Special Rapporteurs Francisco Cali Tzay and Ian Fry – encouraged States to encourage the UN General Assembly to consider recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment at its earliest convenience, just as the UN Human Rights Council had done.
General Assembly resolution on the right to a healthy environment would reinforce the urgency of actions to implement the right, they said in a statement, adding: We are all extraordinarily fortunate to live on this miraculous planet, and we must use the right to a healthy environment to ensure governments, businesses and people do a better job of taking care of the home that we all share.
