Latin America poised to agree world's first legal pact for nature defenders

Latin American countries are poised to agree the world’s first legally binding convention to protect environmental defenders at a conference in Costa Rica.

Land activists and indigenous people were killed in record numbers on the continent last year, with more than two nature protectors murdered every week.

Now, after two years of negotiations, UN and diplomatic sources say it is very likely that an environmental democracy treaty offering them legal protection will be agreed at the summit which ends on 4 March.

Constance Nalegach, Chile’s lead negotiator at the UN’s Economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) meeting, said that a legal pact was now “the most probable result and [also] a political gain”.

“A legally binding instrument is the most useful agreement to ensure human rights,” she told the Guardian. “Even though it is not the whole solution, it is an important step for stopping and reducing socioenvironmental conflicts in the region, including the attacks on environmental defenders.”

Several countries are expected to sign the convention, but it will not enter into force until it has been formally ratified by eight of the commission’s member states.

Enforcement will take place at the national level, with a commission review mechanism monitoring states’ progress towards human rights norms.

Carole Excell, a director at the World Resource Institute, said the agreement in Costa Rica would be “a massive step forward”.

Source: theguardian