Figure 1. Nowadays, tourism and the diving industry in the Caribbean represent 60% of the diversity in the world and up to 50% of the world cruise tourism with revenue of 40 billion US dollars/year. Source: Pexels.
Latin America and the Caribbean are extremely rich in biodiversity, containing an estimated 60% of the world’s terrestrial life. The Caribbean, in particular, is considered to be a biodiversity hotspot, containing over 11,000 plant species, many of which are found only in this region while its diverse fauna includes many exotic fish and bird species. The world benefits from this biodiversity, and this fauna is often exploited for commercial, business or pharmaceutical purposes.
In order to achieve this picturesque landscape and protect the endangered wildlife, environmentalists play an active role. The so-called “Defenders of the Environment” are indigenous people, local communities or groups that do everything in their power to preserve the biodiversity of their homeland. Defenders of indigenous rights, who are primarily concerned about preserving indigenous environmental and territorial rights, are in disproportionately great danger. In the majority of cases, murder victims, or their entourage, have previously been threatened or attacked.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically, the situation for environmental defenders across the globe has only become more precarious. Additionally, a large number of socio-ecological conflicts have also been recorded in the area, which refers to the mobilisation of local communities or organisations against economic activities with harmful environmental consequences. Typical expressions are protest marches, squatting, roadblocks or hunger strikes.
Figure 2. In 2019, 212 environmental activists were murdered worldwide. Source: Unsplash.
In order to guarantee access to environmental information, ensure public participation in the approval process for environmental projects, and require states to take measures to protect environmental and human rights defenders, the Escazú Agreement was introduced. The Regional Agreement on Access to Environmental Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, known as the Escazú Agreement, was signed on 27 September, 2018 by Costa Rica, Brazil, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Paraguay and open for subscription by the 33 Latin American and Caribbean states members of the Economic Commission for Latin America of the United Nations (ECLAC), representing the most significant advance of multilateralism and regional environmental democracy in recent decades.
The Regional Agreement is a ground-breaking legal instrument for environmental protection, but it is also a human rights treaty. Its main beneficiaries are the people of the region, targeting the most vulnerable groups and communities. It aims to ensure the right of all persons to have access to information in a timely and appropriate manner, to participate significantly in making decisions that affect their lives and their environment, and to access justice when those rights have been infringed. The treaty recognises the rights of all individuals, provides measures to facilitate their exercise and, most importantly, establishes mechanisms to render them effective.
Figure 3. The agreement, concluded in Escazú (Costa Rica) in March 2018, is based on Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which establishes transparency, participation and access to justice for citizens impacted by environmental problems. Source: Pexels.
Among other foundational principles, the treaty explicitly adopts the pro persona principle, requiring its interpretation in the way that is most protective of individual rights. It guarantees the right of every person to live in a healthy environment and makes sure that the environmental rights and information are set out clearly to the public for access and understanding of one's rights. For the aforementioned point to be successful, Article 6 imposes positive obligations on the part of states to “generate, collective, publicise and disseminate environmental information’’. Thus, affected indigenous tribes and human-rights defenders are offered more opportunities for information, participation and access to the justice system in environmental matters.
Many countries that play an essential role in Latin American foreign policy have so far refused to ratify the Escazú Agreement. Brazil has shown no intention of ratifying yet, along with Peru and Chile, paradoxically, as Chile was one of the instigators of the agreement. While ratification of the agreement is an important tool for environmentalists and human rights defenders to hold governments accountable, those familiar with the treaty say that, like many international agreements, its success depends on the political will of the countries that are parties to it.
Figure 4: The map indicates which countries have signed and ratified the Escazú Agreement as of 2020. Source: SWP.
It is important to clarify that the Escazú Agreement is an agreement between states, but above all, it is a compact between each state and its society. It is a citizen’s agreement, made by and for the people of the region. It reflects regional priorities, recognises and develops fundamental democratic rights, and places equality at the center of development, seeking to incorporate all sectors of society to confront environmental challenges of such magnitude as climate change, natural disasters, desertification and biodiversity loss.
There is, therefore, a need to promote a healthy environment for adequate human development, to the best of their ability, in a state of cooperation between the state, the third sector, the private sector and the beneficiary society. The law must therefore regulate such economic, social and environmental data in order to maximize human rights. In this line, we conclude that it is necessary to draw up strategies for building a "government for sustainability", for a world today, more than ever, in dire need of more and better environmental democracy.
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