Escazú Agreement: A Framework for Protecting Environmental Human Rights Defenders and Advancing SDG16

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to provide a blueprint for global peace and prosperity through a human rights-based approach. SDG 16 aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies by ensuring access to justice and fostering strong institutions. However, negative trends in climate change, natural resource exploitation, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem health threaten the ability of nations worldwide to achieve the SDGs. Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) play a vital role in forging pathways to sustainable development that are equitable for both humans and the environment. Despite this, EHRDs are increasingly subjected to a wide range of physical and structural violence that threatens their human rights and environmental protection. The Escazú Agreement is the first and only multilateral treaty that explicitly recognizes the rights of EHRDs to a healthy environment and sustainable development. This paper seeks to highlight the Escazú Agreement as a mechanism for strengthening access to rights in Latin American and Caribbean nations in accordance with SDG target 16.10, which pertains to public access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms. The spirit of the Escazú Agreement reminds the world that, to protect human rights and nature, the global community must begin by protecting the people who defend the environment.