We know that humankind is at a crossroads due to an acute planetary multidimensional crisis. We also know that our multilateral system has shown timid progress and setbacks in addressing the current ecological breakdown. The critical question is how to learn collectively, to build sustainable development models with low ecological footprints and socially just policies. After fifty years, we are overdue for such bold and transformative actions.
I am optimistic. I see at least three converging factors that can enhance global environmental governance. First is simply consensus. There is broad acknowledgment that the current ecological crisis could reach a point of no return that threatens the very survival of the human species. The second is decades of effort. There is a rich legacy of international environmental law with hundreds of multilateral environmental agreements that would represent a significant advance if implemented coherently and with accountability.
Third, a normative leap. We have finally come to recognize that a healthy environment is a human right and a pre-condition for any meaningful prospect of development or effort to fight poverty and inequalities.
Some recent developments in environmental law in 2021 alone represent sources of great hope. In March, the German Constitutional Court stated that the country’s Climate Change Act violates the State’s constitutional duty to actively protect life and health from the dangers of climate change. In October, the Human Rights Council recognized for the first time that having a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is indeed a human right in its resolution 48/13. And in December, Portugal published a new Framework Law on the Climate that sets the government’s duty to defend the recognition of a stable climate as Common Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations. Nor can we forget several historical precedents from which to draw inspiration, such as the 2008 Ecuadorian Constitution that grants nature the right to exist, be protected, and regenerate.
Yet, the struggle against the environmental crisis cannot be limited to the legal battlefield. There is a need to align sound science and information, leadership, and political will. All these factors need to converge for Stockholm +50 and the 2022 Declaration. The Declaration should be robust, comprehensive, and action-oriented. It must provide a sense of direction and uphold the commitment of governments and societies towards a nature-friendly, just, and inclusive development. We have learned that action and implementation is the best way to regain trust between individuals, communities, and institutions.
People worldwide have high hopes for the Stockholm+50 moment and the 2022 Declaration. We are taking steps in the right direction, such as the significant policy and legal transformations that we have witnessed in countries like Germany or Portugal and at the multilateral level in the Human Rights Council in 2021. Let the 50th anniversary of Stockholm represent an inflection point for humanity. Let its outcome serve as a beacon for fairer and more sustainable economies and societies. The choices and the path we take are in our hands.