Experts urge States to fully integrate human rights at COP16 of the Convention on Biological Diversity

GENEVA, WASHINGTON, D.C (15 October 2024) – Ahead of the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) to be held next week in Cali, Colombia, UN experts and an expert from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) called on States to mainstream human rights, including the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, into the decisions and outcomes and implementation at all levels. They issued the following statement:

“Human rights should be at the centre of all actions to address the triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution – and advance coherent and ambitious actions to urgently achieve effective solutions. These efforts should respect, protect and fulfil human rights.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by the 196 Parties to the Convention in 2022, expressly included the commitment to apply a human rights-approach, with specific references to everyone’s human right to a healthy environment, and, specifically, Indigenous Peoples’ human rights. This commitment applies to the implementation of National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans. It also applies to the Framework’s goals and targets, such as Target 3 to conserve 30 percent of land, waters and seas by 2030 and Target 22 to ensure participation in decision-making and access to justice and information related to biodiversity for all.

The dire impacts of the triple planetary crisis are evident. Marginalised people, groups and communities who have contributed the least are the ones who suffer the most –which is evidence of profound inequalities. The respect, protection and guarantee of human rights should inform both process and outcomes. This extends to decisions that may be adopted at COP16, and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. COP16 is therefore an opportunity for advancing a whole-of-society approach to the implementation of the Framework.

Implementation should involve the whole of society with an intersectional approach, that guarantees the inclusion and effective participation of all, especially women, children, youth, Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, peasants and other rural communities.

Mainstreaming human rights will also help to clarify the role of public and private actors in the implementation of the Convention, the Global Biodiversity Framework and COP decisions, especially at the ocean-climate-biodiversity nexus. This is particularly important now that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has further clarified the strict due diligence obligations of States to mitigate and adapt to climate change by regulating and controlling activities carried out by both public and private actors that may impact the marine environment.

A human rights-approach helps to drive the necessary deep and systemic changes, including the reduction of unsustainable production and overconsumption across sectors and ecosystems, and to identify holistic, fair and effective solutions.

We reiterate the importance of ensuring that human rights, including the human right to a healthy environment, are at the centre of all public and private efforts to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework. We look forward to participating in COP16 and supporting the CBD COP 16 Presidency, CBD State Parties, the CBD Secretariat, and all rights-holders and stakeholders in advancing the full potential of human rights in the processes and outcomes of the CBD COP.”