Excellencies, distinguished
delegates, ladies and gentlemen, today, I present a report on the human rights
obligations relating to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Biodiversity includes not only the millions
of species of plants and animals. It
also includes the genetic variations within species, and the many different
ecosystems that make up the global environment, such as forests, wetlands,
deserts, rivers, and oceans.

The main message
of the report is simple: The full
enjoyment of human rights depends on healthy ecosystems, and healthy ecosystems
depend on biodiversity. The full enjoyment of human rights thus depends on
biodiversity, and the loss of biodiversity undermines our ability to enjoy our human
rights, including the rights to life and health, to food and water, and to
cultural life.

For example, biodiversity
supports the rights to life and health because, among other reasons, the
development of human immune systems depends on exposure in childhood to bio-diverse
surroundings; biodiversity also helps to protect us against certain diseases
that are transmitted from animals to humans; and biodiversity provides a
treasure house of sources of medicinal drugs, many of which remain unexplored. Our debt to nature is particularly great with
respect to antibiotics and anti-cancer medications. To take just one of thousands of examples,
the leading treatment for childhood leukemia was derived from the rosy
periwinkle, a flower used as a traditional medicine in Madagascar.

Biodiversity is
also integral to the full enjoyment of the rights to food and water. Greater diversity makes fisheries and
commercial crops more productive, more stable, and more resilient to disasters
and to climate change. Diverse animal, plant,
and algae species help to filter water, including of toxic substances. A famous
example is Lake Baikal in the Russian Federation, where crustaceans the size of
poppy seeds keep the water clear by ingesting pollutants as well as food. In
the words of a local environmentalist, they are “the heroes of the lake”.

To protect and
promote the full enjoyment of these and other rights that depend on
biodiversity, it is necessary to protect biodiversity. As in other areas of
human rights and the environment, the human rights duties can be categorized as
procedural obligations, substantive obligations, and obligations relating to
those who are most vulnerable.

Procedurally, before
a State grants a concession for exploitation of a forest, authorizes a dam, or
takes other steps that allow the degradation of biodiversity, it should assess
the impacts of the proposal, provide information about its possible effects,
facilitate public participation in the decision-making process, and provide
access to effective legal remedies for those who claim that their rights have
been violated. Many of your governments have
sent me examples of procedural safeguards and innovations at the national
level. I have made all of the contributions available on the UN website, and I
encourage you to review them.

However, many
shortcomings still remain. Perhaps the
most egregious problem is the continuing failure to protect environmental human
rights defenders. In 2015 alone, there
were 185 confirmed killings of environmental defenders around the world. Countless others are subjected to violence,
unlawful detention, or other types of harassment. Governments must do better at responding to
threats, investigating violations, and arresting those responsible. Moreover,
States must ensure that their laws do not criminalize peaceful protests and
opposition, or otherwise restrict or prohibit the work of environmental
defenders.

Substantively, human
rights law does not require that ecosystems remain untouched by human hands. Economic and social development depends on the
use of ecosystems, including, in appropriate cases, the conversion of natural
ecosystems such as forests into human-managed ecosystems such as pastures and
cropland. As States have recognized, however, this development cannot
overexploit natural ecosystems. In Sustainable Development Goal 15, States
committed to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and
reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”.

Under the
Convention on Biological Diversity, States have adopted a comprehensive
strategic plan for the decade 2011-2020, which sets out the Aichi Biodiversity
Targets. For example, target 5 is to at
least halve the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, by
2020.

But States are
not meeting the goals they have set for themselves. The drivers of biodiversity
loss continue, including habitat destruction, poaching, and pollution. Of the
56 components of the Aichi Targets, States were on pace to meet only five, as
of 2014. And in December 2016, the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention stated that “only a minority of
parties have established targets [in their national biodiversity strategies and
action plans] with a level of ambition and scope commensurate with the Aichi
Biodiversity Targets”.

One unmistakable
sign of the failure to safeguard biodiversity is the increasing loss of animal
and plant species. We are well on our
way to the sixth global extinction of species in the history of the world. The last global extinction occurred 66
million years ago, when an asteroid ten kilometers wide struck the planet,
altering the climate and destroying the dinosaurs and three-quarters of all
species on Earth. This time, we are the
asteroid. We are bringing this catastrophe
upon ourselves.

Over the past 40
years, the population of vertebrate animals on the planet has declined by more
than fifty percent. On current trends, the decline will be two-thirds by
2020. According to the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature, 13 per cent of bird species, 25 per cent
of mammals, 33 per cent of corals, and over 40 per cent of amphibians are
threatened with extinction. Over 2000 species are critically endangered, which
means that they face “an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.”

Some of the best-known
animals in the world are at perilously low numbers. Even with some recent gains, there are fewer
than 6,000 black rhinos, fewer than 3,000 Bengal tigers, and fewer than 2,000 giant
pandas left in the wild. But we are also
losing species before we even know them.
Only a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of plant species have
been studied for their medicinal potential, and even plants known to be
valuable are often at risk. As many as
40 per cent of the 60,000 plant species used for medicinal purposes are
endangered, including plants long important in traditional medicine such as the
African cherry and the Himalayan yew.

Although the
global failure to protect biodiversity ultimately affects everyone, it is
already having disastrous consequences for indigenous peoples and others who
depend closely on natural ecosystems for their food, water, fuel, and culture. Too
often, heedless exploitation of natural resources pollutes their rivers, cuts
down their forests, displaces them from their homes, and destroys their sacred
places. Peaceful opposition is often met with harassment and violence.

Even when the
economic benefits of destroying an ecosystem outweigh the costs at a macro
scale (which they often do not, since the real costs of cutting down a forest
or damming a river are almost never taken into account), the benefits are
recovered disproportionately by those who do not depend directly on the ecosystem,
and the costs are imposed disproportionately on those who do.

In short, States
should recognize that the biodiversity crisis is also a human rights crisis. At
the same time, they should realize that the best way to protect biodiversity is
to protect human rights, especially the rights of those who live closest to
nature. It has been estimated that areas
conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities cover at least as much
land as protected areas administered by Governments. Protecting the human rights of indigenous
peoples and local communities often results in improved protection for
ecosystems and biodiversity, especially when those communities receive
appropriate support.

Madagascar

I witnessed the
benefits of community-based conservation on my visit to Madagascar. Madagascar has perhaps the most unique
biodiversity in the world. Many of its
plants and animals are found nowhere else.
But it faces enormous challenges in conserving its biodiversity. Poaching and illegal logging drives species
such as tortoises and rosewood trees closer to extinction, and habitat loss
threatens many animals, including lemurs, which have been called the most endangered mammals on the
planet.

Nevertheless, since
2003, Madagascar has taken the admirable step of tripling its coverage of
protected areas, to nearly 12 per cent of the country. Many of its protected areas rely on management
by local community associations. I
visited a park managed by such an association, whose members monitor lemurs and
other endangered species, protect against unlawful logging, plant seedlings,
and remove invasive eucalyptus trees. I also saw good practices by the largest
mining project in the country, the Ambatovy nickel mine, which supports
conservation areas and development projects for communities near the mine.

At the same
time, I saw issues of concern.
Madagascar has only recently emerged from a period of political turmoil
and transition, and during that period the number of mining permits rapidly
increased, in many cases without consultation with local communities. As a
result, protests and conflicts have proliferated. I have encouraged the Government to consider
instituting mediation procedures to resolve conflicts between mines and local
communities.

Under the
previous, transitional government, illegal logging and trafficking also
exploded, facilitated by official corruption. Many Malagasy people believe that
the corruption continues today. To restore
confidence in its legal system and “end the corruption that has weakened
Malagasy society”, in the words of then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when he
visited Madagascar last year, the Government should swiftly implement effective
anti-corruption measures. At the same time, Madagascar must protect the rights
of environmental defenders, including those who speak out against illegal
logging. Doing so is critical to protecting its environment and the human
rights of its people.

Like other
countries in eastern and southern Africa, Madagascar is suffering the effects
of one of the worst droughts in its history, attributed to El Niño but
strengthened by global warming. During my visit, the United Nations announced
that the drought had caused nearly 850,000 people to become acutely food
insecure. In this respect, there is only so much that Madagascar can do by
itself. To protect it and other
vulnerable countries from climate change, the major emitters must comply with
their commitments under the Paris Agreement – and strengthen those
commitments. Donor countries must also
help to provide the funding necessary to protect against the adverse effects of
climate change.

Other
activities

Finally, I will
say a word about my other activities in 2016.
Among other things: I helped Unitar
to develop an online course on human rights and the environment; with the help
of UN Environment, I began a series of regional judicial workshops on
constitutional environmental rights; and I worked with Universal Rights Group
and other partners to develop a web portal for environmental human rights
defenders, which went online this week.

In 2017, I
intend to undertake country visits to Uruguay and to Mongolia; to prepare a
report on children’s rights and the environment; and last but not least, to
develop clear and understandable guiding principles, or practical guidelines,
on human rights and the environment to present to the Council next March, in my
final report.

In conclusion, I
would again like to express my gratitude to the many people, all over the
world, including the members of this Council, who have provided invaluable
support for this mandate.