Abstract
AbstractLatin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is one of the world's most biodiverse regions, but this diversity is threatened by the overexploitation of natural resources and internal social conflicts. In 2018, 33 LAC countries were invited to sign and ratify the landmark Escazú Agreement, which is the first legally binding environmental agreement to explicitly integrate human rights with environmental matters. The agreement outlines an approach to enhance the protection of environmental defenders, increase public participation in environmental decision‐making, and foster cooperation among countries for biodiversity conservation. However, clear mechanisms to implement the ideals of the Agreement are currently lacking. We identify the key provisions of the Agreement and link these to tangible mechanisms which aim to integrate human rights and nature conservation. These mechanisms include technological (e.g., free online data), human‐based (e.g., legal advice from multidisciplinary teams), and nature‐based solutions (e.g., transboundary species management). As environmental assets––and threats to them––span national boundaries, the collaborative and participatory provisions of the agreement could catalyze coordinated transboundary environmental management. Because of the importance of this Agreement for the LAC region, we added a Spanish version of this manuscript in the Supplementary Material (versión del artículo en español en el material suplementario).
Highlights
Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) globally important biodiversity is under threat from multiple anthropogenic activities, such as habitat change and pollution (Rodríguez Garavito & Baquero Díaz, 2020), and human rights violations are hindering the capacity of social movements to protect the environment (Butt et al, 2019)
There are some international treaties and declarations that promote human rights (e.g., Universal Declaration of Human Rights), the Escazú Agreement is an answer to such a call, as it is the first legally binding instrument targeting the protection of environmental defenders and their human rights to live in a safe environment (Stec & Jendrośka, 2019)
Since 2016, 302 attacks on environmental defenders were registered but only about 15% are under investigation and 1% have resulted in sentencing, demonstrating the lack of legal prosecution and high impunity (U.N., 2020)
Summary
Latin America and the Caribbean’s (LAC) globally important biodiversity is under threat from multiple anthropogenic activities, such as habitat change and pollution (Rodríguez Garavito & Baquero Díaz, 2020), and human rights violations are hindering the capacity of social movements to protect the environment (Butt et al, 2019). This is the first legally binding international agreement that aims to guarantee human rights through an effective implementation of environmental democracy by fostering information generation and access to it. It advocates for social and environmental justice by encouraging the participation of all stakeholders, especially local and indigenous communities, in environmental decision-making. The Escazú Agreement does not set conservation targets, but instead provides guidance on environmental democracy, cooperation, and human rights, which is intended to be adaptable to each country’s context (Article 4.3, Stec and Jendrośka (2019)) It is, crucial that there is clarity around the mechanisms that could facilitate the integration of the Agreement’s articles for advancing biodiversity conservation and the protection of the environmental defenders. We detail how these provisions have enormous potential to facilitate transboundary conservation across the region
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