1. Defending the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: a human rights framework

The planet is at the crossroads of a triple planetary crisis—an interlinked, multifactorial crisis encompassing climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. At this critical juncture, it is indispensable to recognise past advances so we can project stronger, systemic changes that protect people and the environment.

Welcome to our e-learning course titled 'Advocacy for environmental human rights defenders: a roadmap towards international & regional mechanisms'. This online training aims to equip environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) and their allies with a clear conceptual, legal, and strategic toolkit to defend the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This module will provide both a theoretical foundation and practical strategies to implement coordinated international and regional advocacy efforts to drive change at the national level.

Chapter 1 examines the conceptual and legal foundations that enable us to defend the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, the role of environmental human rights defenders in halting the climate crisis, and the role of State and non-State actors in this context.

Estimated duration: 1h30

Chapter 2 provides strategic and practical guidance for environmental human rights defenders on how to engage with UN human rights mechanisms and on translating local struggles into effective international advocacy.

Estimated duration: 2h30

Chapter 3 goes beyond the international system with geographically-led advocacy, considering regional nuances and exploring the complementarity between international human rights mechanisms and the African, Inter-American, European, and Asian-Pacific mechanisms.

Estimated duration: 2h (browse through the sub-sections for specific regions)

Estimated duration of the full course: 5-6 hours.

As a free, self-paced learning tool, this course is designed to be flexible and accessible, enriched with case studies, videos, toolkits, and more. As mentioned, you can take each chapter independently, tailoring your learning journey to your experience, interests, availability, and learning goals.

Chapter 3, which focuses on regional mechanisms, is particularly well-suited to a stand-alone study. You can navigate through the sidebar menu on the right, titled "Module content", to access an overview of each chapter and its sub-sections.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, we expect you to:

• Recognise who environmental human rights defenders are, the contexts in which they operate and understand the human rights legal frameworks for their protection;
• Identify available avenues for international and regional advocacy to advance the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment through UN and regional human rights mechanisms;
• Analyse the implications of different advocacy mechanisms at the international (UN) and regional levels and their potential for meaningful engagements;
• Plan engagement with those mechanisms based on their geographical scope, leveraging them to implement complementary strategies for effective advocacy; and
• Identify ways to hold governments and non-State actors accountable for human rights violations and abuses related to the environment, drawing on available frameworks and mechanisms for civil society organisations.

To deepen and contextualise your learning, we encourage you to explore our other introductory modules on the UN human rights mechanisms and our global advocacy roadmap. These courses provide essential background and complement this module. Where relevant, we will make references to them throughout each chapter.

Acknowledgements

We warmly thank all the human rights defenders and experts worldwide who strongly supported us in building this course with their valuable inputs and feedback:

• Gladys Mbuyah, Cameroon
• Christopher Opio, Uganda
• Petronella Pule, Zambia
• Brighton Aryampa, Uganda
• Sabino Calucango, Angola
• Gabriel Gustavo Belloni, Mexico
• Sukhgerel Dugersuren, Mongolia
• Pranisha Shakya, Nepal
• Paula Constante, Brazil
• Prarthana Rao, FORUM ASIA
• Franco Albarracin, human rights and climate change lawyer, CEJIL
• Laetitia Battisti, advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention
• Fiona Marshall, Legal Officer, Aarhus Convention secretariat

We thank all the UN experts for their generous contribution to this module's videos:

• Astrid Puentes Riaño, UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
• Elisa Morgera, UN Special Rapporteur on climate change
• Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention

If you have any comments, suggestions or if you would like to share a case, please contact us: [email protected]

Let’s start learning!