The realisation of all human rights are contingent on the state and sustainability of our ecosystems. Environmental degradation and biodiversity loss are profoundly linked to the multiple issues humankind is facing today: conflicts over natural resources, fiscal losses and debt, public health crises, food insecurity, lack of access to clean water, and increased endangerment of vulnerable groups such women and indigenous peoples.
There is no right to life, and a dignified one at that, when there are imminent threats to our civic, political, economic, social, and cultural rights.
Thus, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) welcomes the historic resolution made by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last 28 July 2022 recognising a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a universal human right. While the resolution is not legally enforceable, with 161 nations voting in favor, its international recognition can spur global and domestic legal advances that positively affect the environment and overall human well-being; such is the case for countries like Costa Rica, Fiji, Mexico, Slovenia, Colombia and France when right to water and sanitation was adopted by the UNGA in 2010.
The resolution further emphasises that the right to a healthy environment is a ‘claim right’. Unlike liberty rights where duty bearers are required only to recognize and uphold fundamental freedoms, claim rights entail responsibility from other parties towards the right-holder. A proactive and unified effort can therefore be demanded from States, world leaders, business corporations, and international organizations to address the urgency of the climate crisis.
This call made by UN Member States is parallel to the report of CHR on the world’s first National Inquiry on Climate Change (NICC)[1]—that climate change is anthropogenic and a human rights issue. In the report, we cited the 20-year data period of the Global Climate Risk Index which ranks the Philippines as the fifth most climate change-affected nation.[2] This is despite the fact that the country only accounts for 0.3 percent of global emissions, while the fossil fuel industry contributed majorly to the observed rise in global average temperature. Most evidently, the impacts of climate change disproportionately affect the Filipino people.
Therefore, CHR believes that global solidarity is imperative in the protection and restoration of our ecosystems to ensure human security and development.
CHR hopes that the resolution will prompt decisive and collective action by key stakeholders towards ending environmental injustices and mitigating climate-induced disasters. We implore the government to make inclusive and equitable the implementation of legal frameworks to prevent environmental harm. This may be done by making accountable entities that severely contribute to global carbon emissions. Further, public participation of the most affected populations must be undertaken in the development of green policies.
We must ensure that no one is left behind. A just transition towards an environmentally sustainable economy will guarantee the peoples’ well-being, dignity, and long-term condition.
Now, more than ever, let us make the necessary steps to usher in a social and economic transformation to accelerate our momentum towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda—“a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination.” ###