Thread

Five years ago, the UN Human Rights Council recognized that everyone has the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Since then, more States have recognized the right nationally, and it has become part of major international decisions on climate change, biodiversity and pollution. Today, more than 85% of States recognize the right in some form. That recognition changed the human rights equation. Clean air and water, a safe and stable climate, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, and protection from toxic substances are not simply environmental goals. They are part of what every person is entitled to enjoy. That means people have rights, and States have obligations. That means people need access to environmental information and a real say in decisions that affect them. They must also be able to challenge environmental harm and seek a remedy when their rights are violated. States, in turn, have a duty to make these rights effective in practice. Courts around the world are already applying it, with decisions that better protect people and the planet. In in recent advisory opinion on climate change, the International Court of Justice recognized a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as essential for the effective enjoyment of human rights and held that States had a duty to prevent harm to the environment, including the climate system. Today, environmental crises remain among the greatest threats to human rights. The next step is to close the distance between recognition and reality, through concrete measures to ensure everyone can actually enjoy this right.