The Domino Effect In Action! UN Leads Change

In July the United Nations (UN) made a groundbreaking move to recognise access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a universal human right.

The UN declaration, made in the presence of all 193 Member States, acknowledges the damage and destruction around the globe and recognises the impacts it had on vulnerable populations - a large proportion of whom lobbied for the resolution’s implementation in the first place.

UN Secretary General António Guterres hailed the move as “the resolution [that] will help reduce environmental injustices, close protection gaps and empower people, especially those that are in vulnerable situations, including environmental human rights defenders, children, youth, women and Indigenous peoples.”

Echoing Guterres’ praise, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet commended the resolution as ‘historic,’ but was quick to say that simply affirming the right to a healthy environment is not enough. This is a sentiment shared by Our Seas Our Future (OSOF).

The High Commissioner also highlighted the unprecedented number of environmental human rights defenders killed in recent years, emphasising the need for state protection and empowerment. Global Witness, a non-profit organisation, documented 4 killings per week in 2020.

“Human and climate-induced environmental degradation have long been neglected due to political, economical and social strife,” explains OSOF policy coordinator Gemma Coutts.

“With issues of water shortages, air pollution, and natural disasters killing and displacing millions each year, we must remove our rose-tinted glasses and face the future we’ve created head-on,” says Coutts.

“The devastating floods currently happening in Pakistan and closer to home, the recent heavy rain across Te Tauihu (‘Top of the South’), are clear proof of that.”

Each year, roughly 13.7 million deaths (24%) are attributed to persons living or working in an unhealthy environment. The risk factors, including air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures and ultraviolet radiation, are only set to worsen as the impacts of the climate crisis become more apparent. However, as outlined in a WHO report, these factors are ‘modifiable.’

The General Assembly resolution is clear. States must implement their international commitments to the climate crisis and scale up their efforts to realise it. If we continue to stick our heads in the sand, it will only get worse.

“This isn’t a problem that will simply go away on its own. This is something that we all must come together to solve,” continues Coutts. “A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential for sustaining human life. This should put environmental related issues at the forefront of our minds.”

“This resolution has the potential to bring real change,” says Coutts. “It could accelerate the necessary social and economic transformation needed for the 2030 Agenda.

Global leaders, our eyes are on you.”

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