International UN experts: Include human rights at the World Summit on Nature

In the run-up to the World Summit on Nature in Colombia, UN experts are calling on the international community to take human rights into account when making decisions. Human rights should be "at the heart of all measures to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution", according to a jointly published statement by experts from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

The devastating effects of these three crises are obvious. "Marginalized people, groups and communities who have contributed the least are the ones who suffer the most, which is evidence of profound inequalities," it said. According to the experts, respecting, protecting and guaranteeing human rights should therefore determine both the process and the results.

The World Summit on Nature, also known as COP16, which takes place every two years, starts in Colombia on October 21. At the last conference in Montreal, Canada, the international community agreed, among other things, that at least 30 percent of the world's land and marine areas should be protected by 2030. A further 30 percent of the areas are to be restored.