HRC: The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment – the ocean and human rights

Affirming that respect for and the protection and fulfilment of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment contribute to addressing ocean degradation, and at the same time recognizing that maintaining a healthy and clean ocean contributes to the protection of a range of human rights,
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Emphasizing the importance of States taking decisive action to address plastic pollution throughout the full life cycle of plastic, including in the marine environment, and highlighting the specific and severe impacts of plastic pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss on the ocean, which jeopardize the realization of human rights, including the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, while underscoring the transboundary nature of plastic pollution and the need for enhanced global cooperation to effectively address this crisis,
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Recognizing the guidance provided by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its advisory opinion in reply to the Request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on climate change and international law rendered on 21 May 2024, on the obligation of States to protect the ocean from climate change drivers and impacts,
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Noting with satisfaction that States have recognized that the ocean, seas and coastal areas form an integrated and essential component of the Earth’s ecosystem and are critical to ensure its sustainability, and that international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implementing agreements, provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources, […]
5. Calls upon States:
(a) To respect, protect and fulfil human rights, including in all actions undertaken to address environmental challenges, including climate change, marine biodiversity loss, pollution and land degradation;
(b) To adopt and implement strong laws ensuring, among other things, the rights to participation, to access to information and to justice, including to an effective remedy, in environmental matters;
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(g) To establish, maintain and strengthen effective legal and institutional frameworks to regulate the activities of public and private actors in order to prevent, reduce and remedy harm to biodiversity and ecosystems, taking into account human rights obligations and commitments relating to the enjoyment of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;
(h) To implement, in all their activities, the precautionary principle or precautionary approach, as appropriate, for the effective protection of marine and coastal ecosystems;
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6. Encourages States:
(a) To adopt ecosystem-based integrated, intersecting and holistic national and local policies and an effective legal framework that acknowledges the need to protect and restore the ocean for the enjoyment of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;
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(e) To cooperate with other States to advance the protection, conservation and remediation of the ocean and coastal areas, including through the implementation of international law and the incorporation of international human rights law obligations, standards and guidelines for ocean management;
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(o) To ratify the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction;
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11. Calls upon all States to conserve, protect and restore healthy ecosystems and biodiversity and to ensure their sustainable management and use by applying a human rights based approach that emphasizes participation, inclusion, transparency and accountability in the management of natural resources;

HRC Resolution:Human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: ocean and human rights