THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROTECTION BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Name: Nguyen
Long Duong
Group: Master
of International Protection of Human Rights (1st year)
Theme: The International environmental law: some
tendencies of development in the Anthropocene
THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PROTECTION BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND HUMAN
RIGHTS
So far, the relationship between biodiversity and human rights has
been little acknowledged, even within the environmental approaches to human
rights. This task will determine the
relationship between human rights and the protection of biodiversiy based on
official international documents of United Nation.
For a long time, the legal
and political endeavours to protect humans from violations of their basic
rights seemed in no way connected to the preservation of biodiversity. In the
past, this paradigm has been reflected by indifferent international responses
to biodiversity issues: Whereas the promotion and protection of human rights
has in recent decades become a major concern of the international community and
the relationship between human rights and the environment has increasingly been
acknowledged, the potential implications of the numerous threats to
biodiversity for human well-being seem to have gone largely unnoticed.
However, the issue has
gained new momentum since the appointment of John Knox, Professor of Public
International Law at Wake Forest University, as UN Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights and the Environment in 2012. Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution
28/11, Knox produced a detailed analysis on the relationship between human
rights and biodiversity and suggests that a human rights perspective can
significantly advance international efforts to protect biodiversity insofar as
a specific connection to human well-being can be determined.
The intrinsic connection between human rights and the
protection of biodiversity.
Recently, a group of UN experts
has warned the erosion of nature, the extinction of species and the loss of
biological diversity at unprecedented rates severely threatens human rights for
present and future generations.
The report argues that nothing
less than “the full enjoyment of human rights depends on biodiversity, and the
degradation and loss of biodiversity undermine the ability of human beings to
enjoy their human rights” (para. 5). According to this report, biodiversity is
necessary for ecosystem services which support the full enjoyment of a wide
range of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water, an
adequate standard of living, culture and non-discrimination (para. 11).
The classic human rights
obligations (respect – protect – fulfil) are directly applicable to
biodiversity-related actions. States have a general obligation to protect
biodiversity and ecosystems in order to protect human rights, including the
obligation to protect against environmental harm from private actors as well as
government agencies (para. 33, 69 lit. a).
States should also support
indigenous and local efforts to protect biodiversity, “recognizing that the
traditional knowledge and commitment of indigenous peoples and local
communities often make them uniquely qualified to do so” (para. 71). In
addition, States are obliged to provide for the participation of citizens in
biodiversity-related decisions and processes and to provide access to effective
remedies in cases of diminishing biodiversity and degradation (paras. 27ff.,
67).
Apart from states, the
report emphasizes the responsibility of businesses “to respect human rights in
their biodiversity-related actions” as well, including by complying with the UN
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, following the Akwé: Kon
Voluntary Guidelines, implementing the recommendations of the Special
Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples with respect to extractive
activities (A/HRC/24/41), as well as not seeking or exploiting concessions for
exploitation of natural resources in protected areas (para. 33, 72).
In accordance with the vital
groundwork of the UN Special Representative on business & human rights, the
report rightly includes businesses into the circle of relevant actors who are
responsible for the full enjoyment of human rights in relation to biodiversity.
Whenever business activities endanger species that are essential for the
well-being of a certain group or humankind in general, the responsible businesses
should be directly accountable under human rights law.
Advantages of a human rights perspective on biodiversity
The report also underlines
some of the advantages of a human rights perspective on biodiversity: it
“(a) Helps to clarify that
the loss of biodiversity also undermines the full enjoyment of human rights;
(b) Heightens the urgent
need to protect biodiversity;
(c) Helps to promote policy
coherence and legitimacy in the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity” (Rdn. 66).
The conceptual connection between biodiversity and
environment
In addition, the UN Special
Rapporteur uses the opportunity to shed some light on the obscure
terminological relationship between the environment and biological diversity.
Starting with his preliminary report in 2012 (A/HRC/22/43, para. 8), Knox has
stressed repeatedly that the conservation of biodiversity forms an integral
part of the international environmental challenges, next to transportation and
disposal of hazardous substances, marine pollution, depletion of the ozone
layer and climate change.
In this report on
biodiversity and human rights, the special rapporteur elaborates further on the
complex relation between the environment and biodiversity. By referring to the
Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, he explains that a healthy environment is
merely a transcription for the multitude of services that ecosystems provide,
such as water, food, disease management, climate regulation and aesthetic
enjoyment. In turn, stability and productivity of a particular ecosystem depend
upon its biological diversity. The more diverse ecosystems are, the more
resilient to sudden disasters and long-term threats such as climate change they
will be (para. 10). Thus, from a human rights perspective, one might conclude
that the right to a healthy environment must inevitably extend to the
protection of biodiversity as it is the basis to which all human well-being is
linked. On March 24, 2017, the HRC endorsed the Report and requested states to
make every effort possible to minimize damage to ecosystems and biodiversity in
order to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights obligations
(A/HRC/RES/34/20).
Provisions on Human rights and Protection of Biodiversity in
international law
The current international
legal system has a lack of understanding of the connection between human rights
and protection of biodiversity. Although the international Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) affirms in its Preamble that “the conservation of biological
diversity is a common concern of humankind”, it fails to relate biodiversity to
substantive human rights in any other provision. The Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora does not
refer to human rights at all. Similarly, only a few regional human rights
instruments make a reference to environmental protection. According to Art. 24
of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, all peoples have a “right
to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development”. Art. 18
of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the
Rights of Women ensures the right of women “to live in a healthy and sustainable
environment”. Art. 11 of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on
Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Art. 38 of
the Arab Charter on Human Rights also contain a right to a healthy environment.
Furthermore, the Aarhus-Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
explicitly aims at contributing to the protection of the right of every person
to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being (Art.
1). The convention has been considered as the “world’s foremost international
instrument that links environmental and human rights”. At the international
level, the Stockholm and Rio declarations represented a significant turn
towards a human rights perspective on environmental matters, even though they
did not refer to an individual right to a healthy environment as such. However,
not a single international human rights contract stipulates a stand-alone right
to the protection of the environment, let alone biodiversity.
The relationship between
human rights and protection biodiversity will develop within the years to come.
Failing to protect biodiversity can constitute a violation of the right to a
healthy environment, a right that is legally recognised by 155 States and
should now be globally recognised as fundamental. Now urgent action is needed
to implement legal and institutional frameworks to protect biodiversity and all
of the human rights that depend on healthy ecosystems. Governments should
ensure public information and participation in biodiversity-related decisions
and provide access to effective remedies for its loss and degradation.
