“The right to a healthy environment ensures the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights and their relevance to environmental realities.”

Global Call for the UN Human Rights Council to urgently recognise the Right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. 

 

The current state of the climate crisis is pushing against the boundaries of our planet. The impacts of this crisis are threatening our human rights. Thanks to the unwavering support and efforts of those in the Global Coalition of Civil Society Organizations, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities, the United Nations has recognized the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and awarded the coalition the UN Human Rights Prize. OneNature, a member of this coalition, is thrilled to have been a part of this historic moment.

Also known as the UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Prize is an honorary award granted to people or groups who have made remarkable contributions to human rights. Awarded every five years, this prize, for the first time in history, was awarded to a global coalition, The Global Coalition of Civil Society Organizations, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities for the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment. 

In October 2021, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment with four abstentions and no votes against. In July 2022, the UN General Assembly universally recognized this right. After just one year, the Coalition has been recognized for its integral role in advocating for this right. The Human Rights Prize will be bestowed in New York on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This honor recognizes the legitimacy and strength of a global and diverse coalition. Many people from all over the world put forth countless hours of action in order to turn this sentiment into a universal human right. 

What exactly is a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment?

Human life and dignity depend on a healthy environment. Healthy, diverse, and functional ecosystems are necessary for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we consume, and the climate we enjoy. Global acknowledgment of this right is critical in light of the global climate crisis we face, which infringes on and jeopardizes the human rights of all life on earth. There is a long history of scientific evidence of the climate crisis’s effects on human life. The scientific community has proclaimed we must deploy rapid and transformative changes to rectify this situation. 

A clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, now a universal right, is necessary in order to protect the safety and dignity of all lives on earth, both individually and collectively, from the natural and human-made degradation of the environment. As we continue to face new and rapidly transforming environmental issues, we must take these challenges into account in human rights. 

OneNature has been a part of the Global Coalition of Civil Society Organizations, Indigenous Peoples, Social Movements, and Local Communities since 2020. We believe the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a momentous step in the right direction, but there is, of course, more work to be done. For the sake of current and future generations, we must prioritize stopping any additional violations or threats to this right.

 

Image by: Joshua Sortino via Unsplash.