The UN proclaims access to a clean and healthy environment as a universal human right.

Access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a universal human right.. This was decided by the United Nations Organization (UN) assembly at its last plenary session this Thursday. 161 votes in favor, 8 abstentions and against were added to the resolution. The UN considers the resolution “historic” and “an example of how the international community can unite against the planet’s triple environmental crisis”: climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

The text, originally submitted last June by Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland, states: the right to a healthy environment is related to existing international law and its promotion requires the full implementation of multilateral environmental agreements.

Accept that it has an effect. climate changeUnsustainable management and use of natural resources, pollution of air, soil and water, inadequate management of chemicals and waste, and consequent loss of biodiversity hinder the exercise of this right.

It also points to: Environmental damage has both direct and indirect negative consequences for the effective enjoyment of all human rights..

The resolution, based on a similar text adopted by the Human Rights Council last year, calls on States, international organizations and companies to intensify their efforts. provide a healthy environment for all.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the adoption of this “historic resolution” and noted that this milestone shows that member states can unite. collective response to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Reducing environmental injustices

The decision will help reduce environmental injustices, close protection gaps and empower people.especially those in vulnerable situations such as environmental rights defenders, children, youth, women and indigenous peoples.”

Demonstration in Birmingham (UK) to demand action against climate change. splash


Guterres added that the decision will also help States accelerate the fulfillment of their obligations and commitments in the field of environment and human rights. However, he stressed that it should be accepted. Decision is “just the beginning” and urged nations to make this newly recognized right “a reality for all, everywhere.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also welcomed the decision, and Guterres’ emergency measures to apply.

“It is a historic moment, but not enough to reaffirm our right to a healthy environment. The solution is clear: States must honor their international commitments and intensify their efforts to make it a reality. If we don’t work together now to prevent them, we will all suffer the worse effects of environmental crises.‘ he pointed.

Bachelet explained that environmental action based on human rights obligations places vital limits on economic policies and business models.

David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, for his part, assured that the Assembly resolution would change the nature of international human rights law.

Governments have promised to clean up the environment and tackle the climate emergency for decades.but having the right to a healthy environment changes people’s perspective from ‘begging’ to demanding government action,” said Boyd.

universal recognition

Five years were required to realize the declaration. The United Nations Environment Conference held in Stockholm in 1972 brought environmental issues to the fore as international concerns and marked the beginning of a dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on the relationship between economic growth, air, water and ocean pollution, and the well-being of people around the world.

The effects of global warming on Lake Jökulsárlón in Iceland. splash


Today’s resolution elevates the right to the place it deserves: universal recognition”, Inger Andersen, head of the United Nations UN Environment Programme, explained. will be one catalyst for action in favor of a healthy and clean environment and empower ordinary citizens to hold their governments to account.

results climate changeAs the UN emphasizes, it becomes more and more evident with the increase in violence and violence. droughts, lack of water, Forest fires, sea ​​level rise, flood, melting of the poles, catastrophic storms and decline in biodiversity.

Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution this Leading cause of morbidity and premature death in the world. More than seven million people die prematurely every year due to pollution.

Finally, the decline or loss of biodiversityIt affects the food supply, access to clean water, and life as we know it, which includes animals, plants and ecosystems.

The eight countries that abstained from the vote were China, Russia, Belarus, Cambodia, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Syria and Ethiopia.

Source: Informacion

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