Advancing the realization of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in the Amazon basin

Amazon Dialogues 6 August 2023, Belém do Pará, Brazil

Organizers: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in partnership with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

Venue: Hangar Centro de Convenções & Feiras da Amazônia - Sala 05 Day: 6 August 2023, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical forest in the world and currently occupies 40% of the territory of South America, with a territory of 6.92 million km2. Its area extends in the territory of eight countries, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, also part of French Guiana. Within this environmental diversity we find approximately 20% of the planet's fresh water in the Amazon basin and 20% of the flora and fauna in the world.

The Amazon is vital to the livelihoods of an estimated 40 million people, with most living in large urban centers. For people living inside this ecosystem, the forest is a source of income, food and medicine. 2 The rainforest also includes over 400 Indigenous Peoples, each with its own language, culture and territory. Often, Indigenous Peoples face grave and even life-threatening risks for defending the traditional lands, resources and territories their communities depend on for survival, livelihoods and religious and customary practices. The forest is also the home of an estimated 178 Indigenous Peoples in isolation and more than 50 Indigenous groups considered in initial contact, who are extremely at risk in terms of their collective survival as peoples.

All people everywhere have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as recognized by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 48/13 and the General Assembly in its resolution 76/300. Clean air, a safe climate, access to safe water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play, healthy biodiversity and ecosystems, access to information, public participation in decision-making processes and access to justice and remedies are generally recognized as key elements of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. As human rights and the environment are interdependent, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is the foundation for the enjoyment of a wide range of other rights, such as the rights to life, health, food, housing, water and sanitation, and self-determination.

Objectives

Addressing the current challenges in the Amazon rainforest requires transformative change that acknowledges the profound interrelationship between humans and nature. It calls for a holistical approach to sustainable development that puts people over profits, secures the ability of future generations to enjoy their human rights, and is grounded in human rights standards and obligations.

Human rights must be at front and center of the discussions of the Amazon Summit. Therefore, the side event aims to show how the human rights framework is interconnected and applies to each of the five pillars of the Summit, demonstrating how rights-based environmental and climate action can be a catalytic for change. In doing so, OHCHR, ECLAC and UNEP, with the support of Sweden, hope to advance the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all people in the Amazon Basin.

Format and speakers

The format of the side event will be a moderated panel discussion with representatives from UN entities, and representatives from civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, activists, and States delegates.

Panelists will be asked to share specific examples of rights-based environmental action targeting the five pillars that will guide the agenda of the Summit -informed by the government of Brazil-, as follows:

1. Participation and protection of territories, activists, civil society and peoples of forests and waters in the sustainable development of the Amazon. Eradication of slave labor in the territory.

2. Health, sovereignty, food and nutrition security in the Amazon region: emergency actions and

   structuring policies.

3. Science, technology, innovation and academic research, energy transition, mining, oil

   exploration: how to think about the Amazon for the future.

4. Climate change, agroecology and sociobioeconomies in the Amazon: sustainable

   management and new production models for regional development.

5. The Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon: a new inclusive project for the region.