How the UNGA’s landmark Resolution Recognising Clean, Healthy, Sustainable Environment as Human Right will bolster Climate Action?

By: Marta Solari and Elisa Granzotto

On 28 July 2022, by a recorded vote of 161 in favor and zero against, with eight abstentions, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. The UNGA called upon States, international organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to “scale up efforts” to ensure a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all. 

The resolution (A/76/L.75) noted that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is “related to other rights and existing international law”, and affirmed that its promotion “requires the full implementation” of the multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) “under the principles of international environmental law.” 

The UNGA resolution is based on a similar text, adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in October 2021, proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, and Switzerland, and supported by more than 1300 civil society organizations and indigenous peoples’ groups, as well as 15 UN agencies, young activists and business groups.

The UNHCR resolution represented the first formal recognition at the global level of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, clearly recognizing “environmental degradation and climate change as an interconnected human right crisis”. 

Historically speaking, many attempts were made before the approval of these two resolutions, to reach the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The first milestone in this sense  is constituted by the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm. The UN Member States, in that context, declared under Principle 1 that people have a fundamental right to "an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and bear a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and future generations." calling for concrete action and the recognition of this right. After that, the right has been integrated into constitutions, national laws, and regional agreements, but without a strong consensus about a definition of the right to a clean and healthy environment, and in any case never reached a universal recognition, until now.

During the July 2022 UNGA negotiations, several delegations pointed to a lack of common internationally agreed understanding of the content and scope of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The representative of the Russian Federation, one of the abstained States, underlined how neither universal environmental agreements nor international human rights treaties address the concept of a clean, healthy or sustainable environment or similar notions, and underscored that States “can only talk about a legally recognized right after such right is recognized exclusively within international treaties”.  However, Russia generally recognized the importance of the subject matter, and for this reason the delegation did not vote against but instead abstained. Belarus, on the other hand, underlined how the resolution does not have any binding character, since the recognition of a special category of human rights can only be done through a universal legally binding instrument. It abstained from the vote as well.

Other points raised by the delegations are: the need to include the concept of common but differentiated responsibilities (Nicaragua, Pakistan and China); a reference to unilateral coercive measures (Iran); the acknowledgement of the role of human rights defenders working on environmental issues (UK); the reaffirmation of the principle of State sovereignty.

Why the UNGA resolution is important and what consequences it will led in the fight against climate change?

Although the resolution of the General Assembly is not legally binding, which means that countries do not have a legal obligation to comply and therefore do not produce legal consequences for those who do not comply with the provisions, it has long been clear that non-binding sources, called “soft law”, can be politically influential in defining goals and aspirations, and that non-legally binding agreements in international law have an ever-increasing significance in everyday relations between states.

For this reason, many experts and advocates from all around the world have welcomed the decision of the UNGA as a historic and landmark resolution, which will potentially be able to generate major consequences in the fight against the triple planetary crisis that we are experiencing today.  For example, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted in a statement that the resolution will help: reduce environmental injustices; fill gaps in protection and empower people, especially those in vulnerable situations, including environmental human rights defenders, children, young people, women and indigenous peoples and accelerate the implementation of Member States' obligations and commitments in the field of environment and human rights. 

Let’s analyze in more detail the potential implications that the UN General Assembly resolution will generate recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right.

• As mentioned by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the newly recognized right will be crucial in addressing the triple global crisis. This refers to the three main interconnected environmental threats that humanity currently faces: climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss - all mentioned in the text of the resolution. 

The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly apparent. Increased intensity and severity of drought, water scarcity, fires, sea level rise, flooding, melting of polar ice, catastrophic storms and biodiversity decline: all those things affect the health and lives of millions of people not only in the most endangered areas, but the entire humankind. 

Thanks to the UNGA resolution, the States are now urged to accelerate the implementation of their obligations and commitments in the field of environment and human rights, under the watchful eye of the entire International Community, which has loudly called for an effective recognition of the right to access to a clean and healthy environment as a universal human right. Moreover, the resolution does not impose obligations to act only to States, but to stakeholders, international organizations and businesses, which often operate contrary to the obligations imposed by the law, without suffering consequences. In this context, the UNGA decision can provide a more predictable and coherent global regulatory environment for businesses, while protecting nature defenders. 

• The decision of the UN General Assembly may lead to the recognition of the right to a healthy environment as a fundamental right and to its inclusion in the State Charters and Regional treaties; thus allowing anyone to act in defense of this right in front of the courts around the world, demanding its respect and implementation, and to hold their governments accountable for their actions. 

An example of the power of this listing among the Constitutional rights is provided by the Colombian Constitution, which includes the right to a healthy environment among collective rights (Article 79). Thanks to this formal recognition, in fact, the Colombian Constitutional Court, the highest interpreter of the Charter, has been able to consolidate in numerous rulings a doctrinal line that considers the right to a healthy environment as a fundamental right. In this regard, judgment C-760 of 2008 gives a perfect example of the Court’s course of action.  

• The resolution, declaring that everyone on the planet has the right to a healthy environment and that environmental damage has negative implications for the effective enjoyment of all human rights, indirectly introduced environmental protection into the List of Human Rights, thus allowing it to obtain a highest level of protection, being recognized as a fundamental right. 

In a nutshell, it will be easier to protect the environment, to act against climate change and counter the actions of States and those who, public or private, do not respect the norms on environmental protection and operate at the expense of the environment and people. At national level, for example, declaring a healthy environment a human right would allow people to challenge environmentally destructive policies under human rights legislation, which is well defined in many countries. 

• Finally, as explained by David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, the UN General Assembly resolution can act as a catalyst for action, exactly as the UN General Assembly’s 2010 resolution on human rights for water and sanitation brought “a cascade of positive changes that have improved the lives of millions of people”.

Conclusion

Even though the impact of this resolution and the echo that it will have in the near future is clear, it is also evident that other steps must be taken to reach the full and binding recognition of the right of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Prior to the text’s adoption, several delegates stressed the importance of adding elements to the resolution, the most important of which is the need to find a univocal definition of the concept of “clean”, “healthy” and “sustainable, terms that lack an internationally agreed definition and that need to be harmonized within each State. Also, the concept of right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is still too broad in scope and must be defined more clearly.

To conclude, all the reasons stated above are why WYCJ is working for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on the matters related to the integration of human rights and climate change law. In fact, even if an Advisory Opinion is just legal advice and thus non-binding, it “carries great legal weight and moral authority” and can push States and Courts to build a more fair and equitable society where human beings and the environment are a single whole.

About the Authors

Marta is a young Italian professional with a degree in Law and a specialization in International Environmental Law. Currently based in Brussels, she works as Policy Officer.

Elisa recently graduated with an LLM in Global Environmental Law and Governance at Strathclyde University. She also graduated with a Master's in International, European & Comparative Law from the University of Trento in Italy. Her specialization is climate change, forestry law (especially tropical forests), and biodiversity conservation. At the WYCJ, she is a member of the Academic Taskforce and coordinator of the Latin American Campaign.

This blog is edited by Aditi Shetye, Co-ordinator of the Academic Taskforce.