COP16: All efforts to address biodiversity loss and its impact should be anchored in human rights law, says ASG Brands Kehris

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today.

I am pleased to be  at CBD COP16 alongside a wide range of human rights experts committed to one  common objective:  ensuring that action to protect biodiversity also advances human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

You will soon have the opportunity to hear from the specialists that join us today.

We are all here together because nature loss is also a human rights crisis.

We came to advocate that all efforts to address biodiversity loss and its impact should be anchored in human rights law.

States have human rights obligations related to the conservation, sustainable use and sharing of the benefits of biodiversity.

Human rights also offer solutions.

The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services affirms that environmental action that is grounded in human rights leads to better outcomes for people and the planet.

While I am leaving Cali today, I am heartened that UN Human Rights staff, partners and experts we support will remain pursuing the best possible outcomes of these negotiations.

The human rights and environmental communities must work to ensure the decisions of COP16 are guided by and advance human rights in line with Parties commitments under the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the best available science.

The importance of coming otgether iwth the different communities and stakeholders.

In my time here, I have engaged with Parties, Indigenous Peoples, environmental human rights defenders, peasants, people of African descent, members of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, and scientists, among others.

Their dedication to ensuring healthy ecosystems and biodiversity for current and for future generations is really inspiring.

But the challenges they face are steep.

Many have shared with me  troubling  information about the threats they face such as harassment, criminalisation, violence, often gender-based, and even killing,

This is unacceptable.

Human rights law and our very humanity requires that we protect its defenders.

And Target 22 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework contains a commitment to do so.

We need environmental human rights defenders to speak and meaningfully participate in environmental discussions and action without fear.

In  my conversations here at COP16, it has become evident to me that we are falling far short of this very critical objective.

Let me be clear: There will be no peace with nature if we cannot protect human rights and its defenders.

Member States here at COP16 need to take decisive action.

They should recognize the role of environmental human rights defenders and enhance their protection including in the context of marine, coastal and island biodiversity.

They should provide Parties with the indispensable technical and scientific support they need to ensure biodiversity action complies with human rights obligations breaking down the siloes between the human rights and environmental spheres.

The universal recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by General Assembly in resolution 76/300 offers a clear opportunity to do so.

It makes clear that protecting human rights and protecting the environment go hand in hand.

Reaffirming the point, earlier this month, the Human Rights Council adopted its first ever resolution (57/28) on biodiversity and human rights.

Outcomes here at COP16 should be consistent with the commitments made by Member States at the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

And we need to go beyond words.

Resources need to be mobilised for the achievement of the goals and targets of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in a manner that advances biodiversity protection and human rights.

The establishment of a new subsidiary under Article 8j of the Convention, as called for by the Secretary General earlier today, offers another critical opportunity to advance human rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, alongside protection of the environment, embodying the Framework’s commitment to harmony with nature.

I look forward to continuing our discussion here and elsewhere of how to advance human rights-based environmental action here and around the world as well as hearing from the experts we have the privileged to be listening to here today.