Gonzalo Oviedo, IUCN Senior Adviser on Social Policy

Internal Briefing note:

Conservation and Human Rights: the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on environment and human rights, March 2017

Gonzalo Oviedo, IUCN Senior Adviser on Social Policy

20 April 2017

1. Background

The UN Human Rights Council appointed Prof John Knoxas “Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligationsrelating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” in July 2012. Hestarted his work examining the background and “mapping human rights obligations relating to the environment”, primarily with an approach on situations of environmental harm to human rights.

In March 2015, at the conclusion of the three year term of the initial appointment, the Human Rights Council renewed Prof Knox’s mandate for another three years and changed his title to Special Rapporteur. In late 2015, especially after a Consultation that he convened in October that year to gather inputs for his subsequent tasks, Prof Knox started to focus on a topic until then ignored by the UN human rights system – the role of conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in the enjoyment of human rights.

Following consultations and interactionswith many conservation actors throughout 2016, including IUCN, conservation organizations members of the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), and others, Prof Knox prepared his report for the March 2017 Session of the Human Rights Council with a focus on biodiversity, ecosystems and human rights. An important moment of the evolution of his report was his attendance at WCC in September 2016, where he discussed ideas at many events and had many consultations.

2. The Report

The report of the Special Rapporteur was presented to the UN Human Rights Council on 8 March 2017. In his own words, the report focuses “on the human rights obligations relating to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. In his report, he describes the importance of ecosystem services and biodiversity for the full enjoyment of human rights and outlines the application of human rights obligations to biodiversity-related actions”. The importance of his report is that this is the first time an official report from the UN human rights system articulates the concept of “human rights obligations relating to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity”, and identifies, from a human rights perspective, the duties of States (and other parties) to conserve biodiversity and ecosystems. The core of the conclusions of the report reads as follows: “Biodiversity is necessary for ecosystem services that support the full enjoyment of a wide range of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and culture. In order to protect human rights, States have a general obligation to protect ecosystems and biodiversity. Biodiversity around the world is rapidly being degraded and destroyed, with grave and far-reaching implications for human well-being” – which calls for urgent actions on procedural and substantive obligations to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, as well as to ensure that conservation supports human rights.

The report stresses that States must do more specifically to respect and protect the rights of those who are most vulnerable to the degradation and loss of biodiversity.

The report calls States to recognize that defenders of biodiversity are also human rights defenders, and therefore implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders on providing a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders in general and for environmental human rights defenders in particular.

Prof Knox’s mandate ends in March 2018, when he will present his final report. He indicates in his current report that he intends to prepare “guiding principles” on environment and human rights for consideration and possible adoption by the Human Rights Council.

Prof Knox’s work on this report (and his mandate more broadly) is supported by a “core group” of governments made up of Switzerland, Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco and Slovenia. This group promoted the Resolution that the Human Rights Council adopted on 24 March 2017, as indicated below.

3. IUCN and the Report

As indicated earlier, IUCN has actively supported the Special Rapporteur in his work since October 2015, and especially around the WCC in September 2016. IUCN’s contributions included submission of documents and inputs, participation in consultations, organizing activities at WCC and attending several meetings. Interactions with the Special Rapporteur were very constructive, and he continuously showed interest and openness about IUCN’s positions.

IUCN also interacted actively with members of the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), which also engaged with him actively, especially WWF. All members of the CIHR participated in several dialogues at WCC and submitted inputs, and a consultation convened by the Special Rapporteur in Geneva after WCC was attended by Birldlife, TNC, WWF, CI and IUCN.

IUCN made an intervention at the Human Rights Council during the interactive dialogue that followed the presentation of the report. In its intervention, IUCN welcomed the report and expressed its expectations that the Human Rights Council will give full attention to the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur, and that it will keep the issue of the connections between biodiversity and human rights as an important part of the evolution of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. IUCN also confirmed its willingness to continue to work with the Special Rapporteur in this regard, and to offer a space for dialogue, in particular the venue of the next WCC, to advance agreements between governments and civil society for the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur’s report.

On 9 March 2017, a side event was co-organized by WWF, Earth Justice and IUCN to discuss the implications of the report and possible steps to promote implementation of its recommendations. The side event was supported by the Core Group of Governments and chaired by the Swiss Ambassador to the UNOG. IUCN’s Director General was one of the panellists, and her messages essentially highlighted the importance of the report for understanding the links between human rights and conservation, and expressed IUCN’s concerns about the threats to environmental defenders.

On 24 March 2017, at the final meeting of its 34th Session, the Human Rights Council adopted a Resolution welcoming and supporting the report of the Special Rapporteur, calling for measures for implementation, and requesting the Special Rapporteur to submit a new report in March 2018 with further recommendations.

4. Suggested points for follow-up from IUCN[1]

a. IUCN as a space and facilitator for dialogue

• IUCN is uniquely placed to mobilize a process that bridges between the Human Rights Council, more broadly the human rights community, and the conservation community, and between governments and civil society. IUCN could set up a process of dialogues and other activities leading to its next Congress in 2020, where IUCN can convene a large forum on conservation and human rights that takes stock of progress and discusses next steps and potential agreements among actors.

• IUCN will continue to promote national level multi-stakeholder dialogues that address problems and needs related to conservation and human rights, following the recommendations of the report. In this context, IUCN is considering ways to become a more active facilitator of environmental conflicts affecting the rights of communities, especially on topics close to its programme mandates, such as protected areas, ecosystem management and other natural resource use practices.

• At the global and regional levels, IUCN will continue to work with private sector actors to encourage standards and practices that support human rights and conservation objectives, especially in the fields of extractive industries and major infrastructure developments.

• Several programmes and units of IUCN’s Secretariat, globally and regionally, are engaged in work related to human rights and the environment, and will continue to implement a range of relevant tasks. Regarding IUCN’s Commissions, the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) is establishing a Task Force to work on several of the points described in this brief.

b. Supporting the substantive rights of people related to conservation

• A major issue that connects the rights of indigenous peoples and vulnerable populations with conservation objectives is land and resource tenure. IUCN recognizes that many conflicts affecting communities emerge as a result of lack of recognition of traditional tenure rights and of tenure systems that are inequitable, unclear, ineffective and unaccountable. IUCN will explore setting up new actions globally and nationally to support processes of change in tenure systems.

• Protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and rural communities to their lands, territories and resources is fundamental for the fulfilment of their rights to food, water, health and others. IUCN will expand its interventions aimed to support protection of indigenous and community territories, lands and resources in specific regions and countries.

• Through its interventions on ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation, IUCN will enhance its practical and specific understanding of the links between the rights of people and conservation, particularly on water ecosystems and its renewed interest in the interface between ecosystems and food security, including agriculture and fisheries.

c. The special situation of vulnerable populations

• Apart from expanding its interest in indigenous peoples and vulnerable rural communities, IUCN will strengthen its consideration of gender issues and the vulnerability of women in relation to biodiversity and ecosystems.

d. Environmental human rights defenders

• IUCN’s DG hasexpressed several times the profound concern of IUCN about the killings of environmental human rights defenders, and IUCN Council asked her to communicate further this concern to the High Commissioner on Human Rights, which she has already done. IUCN will continue to raise this issue with governments as needed.

e. Learning and Capacity Building

• Members of IUCN’s World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) have expressed interest in engaging more actively in research, learning and development activities in the field of legal frameworks and instruments. Ideas are being discussed on the possible approaches and activities that members of the Commission may undertake.

• One particular field where WCEL could support application of the recommendations is building the capacity of the judicial systems, through its recently created Global Judicial Institute for the Environment (GJIE).

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f. Mainstreaming rights-based approaches

• IUCN has been increasing its efforts to implement a rights-based approach (RBA) to conservation as an imperative. IUCN will enhance collaboration in this area with CIHR, all IUCN Members, and institutions and experts in the conservation and the human rights communities.

• IUCN has systematized its institutional policy framework and tools for implementation of RBA, and based on this is exploring the experiences and tools of other organizations for implementation of RBA. The Natural Resource Governance Framework (NRGF) is also developing a rights-based framework for assessing and improving natural resource governance, as a basis for strengthening and increasing coherence across IUCN tools, methods and approaches related to governance of natural resources – one of the three thematic areas of IUCN’s Programme. Based on these frameworks, IUCN will propose the development,application and mainstreaming of a rights-based “Social Performance Standard for Conservation” in IUCN and within the conservation sector (IUCN Members and other constituents), integrating standards e.g. on indigenous peoples and communities, gender equality and women empowerment, livelihood security, sustainable local development, sustainable use, cultural heritage and conflict/grievance management. This Standard will be based on human rights frameworks and obligations.

• IUCN will engage in dialogue with conservation funders, including multilateral organizations, bilateral organizations and private foundations, to proposea common approach coherent with the “Social Performance Standard for Conservation”.

• IUCN will engage with the seven biodiversity-related Conventions (Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, International Plant Protection Convention, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, World Heritage Convention) and their Liaison Group of the Biodiversity related Conventions (BLG) to explore cooperation for exchanging knowledge and building synergies in relation to the protection of human rights and the protection of the environment, and activities that promote RBA in implementation of the conventions’ mandates.

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[1] In the timeframe of IUCN’s Programme 2017-2020.