IUCN World Conservation Congress Resolution 081: humanity’s right to a healthy environment

Summary

During the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress held from September 1-10 in Hawaii (USA), the World Conservation Congress (WCC) adopted a resolution proclaiming “that humanity and all living beings have a right to the conservation, protection, and restoration of the health and integrity of ecosystems.” The resolution also invited “States to support the adoption of international and regional declarations and conventions that contribute to the recognition of the rights of humanity and all living beings to the environment and the rights of nature.”

The Resolution recalls from the 2012 World Conservation Congress the “incorporation of the Rights of Nature as the organizational focal point in IUCN’s decision making (Jeju, 2012), which calls for consideration of the rights of nature as a fundamental and absolute key element in all IUCN’s areas of intervention and decision making, and which calls for the development of a universal declaration of the rights of nature.”

In 2021 the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) Right of Nature Task Force was created to concretize IUCN’s engagement on the topic of rights of nature.

The WCC is made up of many different kinds of members, including government, indigenous, and civil society individuals. State and agency Members of the US voted against this motion.