Thread by @SREnvironment

Ten reasons why #TheTimeIsNow for the UN to recognize that everyone, everywhere, has the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment (R2HE)

#1--more than 80% of UN member states (155+ out of 193) already recognize this right via regional treaties, constitutions, or legislation, from Argentina to Zambia

#2--A rights-based approach, including R2HE, can equitably & effectively address the global environmental crisis--the climate emergency, biodiversity collapse, pervasive pollution & emerging infectious diseases spilling over from wildlife and livestock into people, like COVID-19

#3--Evidence demonstrates that the R2HE sparks stronger environmental laws & policies, improved implementation & enforcement of those policies, greater public participation & most importantly, improved environmental outcomes—cleaner air, safer water, lower carbon emissions & more

#4—The right to a healthy environment is vital to vulnerable & marginalized populations suffering disproportionate impacts from environmental degradation, climate change, toxic exposure, & lack of access to clean air, safe water & healthy food. Women, children, minorities ...

#5--Air pollution kills more than 7 million people every year, including hundreds of thousands of children under the age of five. The right to a safe, clean, healthy & sustainable environment can spark action to improve air quality, preventing premature deaths

#6--The climate crisis is a human rights crisis, as I’ve learned through conversations with children in Fiji, Indigenous people in Norway, pastoralists in Kenya, & young people throughout the world who fear for their future. Rights-based solutions exist & must be implemented ASAP

#7--The global water crisis affects billions of people through unsafe drinking water, insufficient quantities of water for daily life, and damage to aquatic ecosystems.

#8—the right to food and the right to a healthy environment are closely related, and must be implemented to transform the world’s food systems, which are currently causing $20 trillion (not a typo) in health and environmental costs every year

#9—All human rights depend on a healthy biosphere! As the IPBES report made clear, biodiversity is declining rapidly across the planet, with 1 million species at risk of extinction. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights said the R2HE is uniquely capable of protecting nature

#10—The UN’s first Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, Fatmah Zohrah Ksentini, urged recognition of the R2HE way back in 1994. Twenty-seven years later, #TheTimeIsNow. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “the time is always right to do what is right!”