The UN's recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

Let me get straight to the point because as we all know time is precious, especially when it comes to tackling the climate crisis.

On the 8th October 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted resolution 48/13, which recognised that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right; in April 2022 they declared this. In a landmark move, on the 28th July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted this resolution as a universal human right.

‘The resolution 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,’ The UN Secretary - General, António Guterres released in a statement.

So let’s break this down.

In October last year, access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment was recognised as a human right and in July of this year it was declared a universal human right.

Universal human rights are human rights to be enjoyed by all people, no matter who they are or where they live. These include civil and political rights, like the right to life, liberty, free speech and privacy and also covers economic, social and cultural rights, like the right to social security, health and education. In it’s most utopian sense, this means that land and environmental activists can no longer be murdered, natural disasters causing displacement for millions of people will gradually reduce and let’s be hopeful here… it’ll STOP air pollutants causing death and will mean accessing clean? water for all will be as easy as asking Alexa!

Though the resolution is not legally binding, it is a breakthrough in what is hoped to create ammunition for systemic change and trickle into policy talks globally, not to mention its ambition to avert ecologically destructive...well anything; projects, behaviours, fuel etc.

Looking back on historic moments in the UN, the adoption of this new hunan right could be an important gateway to a beautiful world. Having similar impacts to when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948- this sought to ensure that the scale of devastation that occurred during World War II would never happen again and enabled the safeguarding of the rights of all individuals around the world. This is generally agreed to be the foundation of international human rights law to this day!

So there we have it, we as humans now have the universal right to a clean, healthy sustainable environment and this is the first month in which we should now not just see or envision it but ensure that it is a normalised day to day