Background and rationale

Effective implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) depends on rights-based, transparent and accountable biodiversity governance.[1] In line with Section C.7(g) of the KMGBF, implementation should follow a rights-based approach and should take into account the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Target 22 further provides a clear mandate to advance access to information, effective participation in decision-making, access to justice, and the protection of environmental human rights defenders as essential conditions for equitable and rights-based implementation.[2]  In this regard, the event will also consider how different rights holders may face distinct barriers in accessing these processes, including barriers arising from gender inequalities, and how women and girls, in all their diversity, as well as youth, may experience specific challenges in relation to Target 22 implementation. The seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity provides an important opportunity to examine how these rights-related obligations can be translated into practice through national planning, financing, conservation action and accountability mechanisms.

As implementation of the KMGBF advances, greater attention is needed to strengthen the institutional and practical pathways that can make rights-based commitments effective.[3] Justice and accountability are central to this effort States must ensure meaningful access to justice by establishing effective and accessible remedies for individuals and communities whose rights are adversely impacted by biodiversity loss or conservation-related measures. This includes ensuring access to justice for human rights harms by third parties, such as businesses, including conservation organisations and funders for biodiversity-related human rights harm. Businesses, conservation organisations and funders, should establish or participate in effective operational-level grievance mechanisms for individuals and communities who may be adversely impacted.

Duty bearers must also help ensure that biodiversity-related decisions are informed by rights holders, that public and private actors can be held to their responsibilities, that risks and harms are identified and addressed, and that affected people and communities have access to effective remedy.[4] They must also help to achieve a just distribution of obligations, responsibilities and opportunities of biodiversity protection.[5]

However, current implementation pathways remain uneven. Human rights considerations remain unevenly integrated into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.[6] Rights-based biodiversity litigation is emerging, but jurisprudence connecting biodiversity loss with the protection of human rights, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, remains at an early stage. [7] In conservation contexts, grievance and remedy pathways remain fragmented, with limited options beyond project- or organization-level processes, including in cases involving serious or systemic harm.[8] Indigenous Peoples and environmental human rights defenders, women, girls and youth, continue to face risks in biodiversity-related decision-making and conservation settings, while prevention, accountability and remedy remain insufficient where harms occur.[9]

Against this backdrop, this side event, convened by UNDP, OHCHR and UNEP, will examine how accountability and justice can support stronger rights-based and gender-responsive implementation of the KMGBF. It will also consider how Target 22, together with Section C.7(g)’s human rights-based approach and recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, can help to advance implementation of international biodiversity commitments. It will bring together governments, United Nations entities, Indigenous Peoples’ representatives, civil society representatives, private conservation organizations and funders, national human rights institutions, legal experts and donors as well as women’s rights and youth representatives, to identify practical approaches to participation, access to justice, grievance mechanisms, remedy and institutional accountability across biodiversity planning, financing and conservation practice.

 

Proposed objective

The objective of this side event is to examine how commitments under Target 22 of the Global Biodiversity Framework can be translated into more accountable biodiversity policies, financing and conservation practice. The discussion will focus on practical pathways to strengthen accountability and effective grievance and remedy mechanisms, including in conservation contexts where accountability gaps remain acute. The event will focus on three interlinked areas:

1. Target 22 as an accountability entry point

How Target 22 can support stronger action on access to information, participation, access to justice and the protection of environmental human rights defenders, including through monitoring, indicators and national planning processes.

2. Justice and institutional accountability

How judicial actors, national human rights institutions, legal experts, Indigenous and environmental human rights defenders and civil society can help close accountability gaps in biodiversity-related decision-making. It will also address the need to move beyond isolated project-level safeguards towards more coherent accountability mechanisms across conservation finance, protected and conserved areas, biodiversity planning and donor-supported programming.

3. Rights-based conservation and grievance mechanisms

How conservation actors and funders can strengthen practical uptake of existing human rights norms and standards, including the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and related guidance, including the Core Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders, and improve access to effective grievance and remedy pathways. This would include discussion of the current fragmentation of grievance mechanisms and the absence of accessible avenues beyond organization-level processes for serious or systemic harms.

 

Expected outcomes

The event is expected to:

• Promote stronger adherence to existing human rights norms and standards in biodiversity conservation efforts.

• Clarify how Target 22 can be used as a practical entry point for accountability in biodiversity action.

• Strengthen understanding of how Target 22, Section C and the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment can inform rights-based KMGBF implementation.

• Identify priority gaps in access to justice, grievance mechanisms and remedy in biodiversity conservation settings.

• Strengthen understanding of the role of member states, businesses, conservation organizations, funders, courts, national human rights institutions, Indigenous and environmental human rights defenders and legal experts in biodiversity accountability.

• Highlight the need for stronger human rights integration in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.

 

Proposed format

Duration: 60 minutes

Format: Moderated panel followed by interactive discussion

 

Suggested structure:

• Opening remarks - 5 minutes

UNDP, OHCHR or UNEP representative frames the event around COP17, Target 22, accountability and the practical human rights gaps in biodiversity action.

• Opening remarks – 10 minutes

·       2 government representatives

• Moderated panel - 20 minutes

Potential speakers:

·       Astrid Puentes, Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

·       Representative from IIFB

·       Representative from Women Caucus

·       National human rights institution representative

• Interactive discussion - 15 minutes

Moderated by UNDP, OHCHR or UNEP representative

• Closing reflections - 5 minutes

UNDP, OHCHR or UNEP representative identifies key messages and possible follow-up areas after COP17