By Claudia Ituarte-Lima, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
As our world faces mounting environmental crises, it’s time to reconsider how we view the role of law in creating peace. Too often, peace and conflict are seen as matters solely between states, driven by military or economic power. Yet this view neglects the voices calling not only for peace between nations but for a fundamental peace with nature.
Recent decades have seen alarming signs of ecological collapse as shown by the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Between 2012 and 2022, Global Witness recorded over 1,900 killings of environmental defenders – people risking their lives to protect our planet. Law is often abused through criminalization and judicial harassment to silence defenders. This staggering number demands that we ask a difficult question: is the law a force for peace with nature, or is it failing those who champion it?
Colombia as the host of the UN Biodiversity Conference chose ‘Peace with Nature’ as its COP’s slogan, calling for reflection to improve our relationship with ecosystems and a distinct economic model, one that does not prioritize the extraction, overexploitation, and pollution of nature. According to Astrid Schomaker, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), COP 16 delivered the seminal message that time has come to make peace with nature and that implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the Paris Agreement on climate change in a synergistic fashion will make peace with nature within reach.
Having spent much of my career working with grassroots communities whose voices are rarely heard in international policy circles, I have seen firsthand how global economic forces driving ecosystem destruction affect local communities. Initially, I believed that human rights and environmental law would lead to the needed solutions. Over time, however, I’ve realized that the transformative power of law rests on amplifying those historically unheard, from women and youth biosphere defenders, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and people of African descent at the frontline of territorial defense, and raising the concerns of those without a voice, namely future generations and ecosystems.
With the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 16) come to an end, the question remains: will these critical voices be heard in the implementation of commitments reached at COP16? More importantly, will they help shape the future of international law and policy? Setting global standards is essential, but the real impact lies in meaningful compliance with those standards at every level.
The UN Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report reminds us of the urgent need for action. Not a single target of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011-2020) was fully achieved. If we are serious about restoring peace with nature, we must close the gap between international promises and on-the-ground action, particularly in the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) by 2030.
This is where biosphere defenders come in, as we discussed at the Biodiversity Law and Governance Day during COP 16 where I chaired a session and was a speaker in the high-level plenary. These remarkable individuals and communities – especially women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and people of African descent – are leading the way by using the law, including human rights, nature’s rights, and the rights of future generations to enact change and prevent environmental degradation. They prove that law can serve as a force for peace with nature, even as they face severe risks and violence, as we also discussed at the side event, ‘Women’s Land, Coastal and Water Rights: From Global Commitments to Local Actions,’ convened by the Women’s Caucus of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and partners, including the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and the Global Network for Human Rights and Environment.
Consider Leydy Pech, a Mayan beekeeper from Mexico, who took a stand against Monsanto’s genetically modified soybeans, protecting not only her community’s livelihood but also an ancestral biocultural heritage and the health of urban population being affected by the toxic pesticide glyphosate.
Or look at youth from Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change leading a campaign resulting in a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the obligations of States regarding climate change.
In Kenya, coordinated legal actions halted a coal project in the Lamu Biosphere Reserve, safeguarding local livelihoods and marine biodiversity in a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) heritage site with international value.
These defenders harness the law, including the right to a healthy environment, recognized by the UN in 2022, and the GBF. They embody what’s possible when legal frameworks support the voices of those fighting for environmental justice.
Transforming international law must be a two-way street. Ground-up efforts, driven by those most affected, should inform international policies. Equally, international commitments must be matched with decisive action at every level. It’s as Malala Yousafzai, youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said, “I raise my voice not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.”
Imagine a world where biosphere defenders could work free from fear, backed by legal systems that recognize the interdependence of human and ecological well-being. Imagine a world where lawyers, policymakers, scholars, Indigenous Peoples, and activists – where we all – raise our voices so future generations, human and non-human, can thrive. The law must transform itself to truly become a beacon of lasting peace that includes and honors the complex web of life.
* * *
Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima is a thematic leader on human rights and environment, and senior researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law as well as Director of the Global Network for Human Rights and Environment.