Right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable ocean
Protecting Our Oceans: A Matter of Human and Environmental Rights
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The Interdependence of the Ocean, Human Rights, and Our Well-being
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Human beings depend intimately on the oceans, not only for their food supply but also for the essential regulation of our climate. The oceans are the blue lungs of our planet; they support invaluable biodiversity and offer irreplaceable cultural, economic, and recreational benefits.
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Yet, these marine ecosystems are severely threatened by multiple pressures: plastic pollution, climate change, overfishing, coastal industrialization, degradation of marine habitats, and an accelerated loss of biodiversity.
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The Ocean's Vital Role in Climate Regulation
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Oceans absorb about 90% of the excess heat generated by our greenhouse gas emissions, playing an absolutely crucial role in global climate stabilization. Every day, the increased burning of fossil fuels releases more carbon dioxide, intensifying the greenhouse effect and warming the planet. When oceans absorb too much heat, their capacity to regulate the climate weakens, compromising their vital ecological balance.
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These ecological crises directly threaten our fundamental human rights, jeopardizing livelihoods, food security, and the well-being of entire communities worldwide.
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Recognizing the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Ocean: An Urgent Necessity
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This is why we must recognize the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable ocean as an integral part of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. With attention often focused on the terrestrial part of the planet in the environmental fight, it's particularly important to highlight the specificity and importance of the oceans.
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Like the right to a healthy environment, the right to a healthy ocean is deeply interconnected with several other fundamental human rights: the right to life, health, food, water, and an adequate standard of living. It also encompasses essential procedural rights, such as access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice.
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International human rights experts and environmental advocates increasingly agree on the urgent need to protect this right, especially in the context of ocean management.
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The Concrete Benefits of the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Ocean
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Recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable ocean would offer multiple benefits:
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It would ensure clear obligations for states. These obligations would include preventing marine degradation, promoting biodiversity, sustainably managing fisheries, and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
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It would foster the development of more inclusive decision-making processes, ensuring that vulnerable and marginalized groups, especially those dependent on the sea or living in coastal areas, can access information, meaningfully participate in decisions, and obtain justice.
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It would also enable holding the private sector accountable for its environmental impacts, requiring companies to exercise due diligence and implement transparent grievance mechanisms.​
Overall, the recognition of this right is essential support for global efforts in combating climate change, protecting biodiversity, and promoting sustainable development, thereby contributing to the well-being of present and future generations.
Sources:
1. The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable ocean, Nathan J. Bennett, Elisa Morgera & David Boyd
2. Ocean Hub's Environmental Rights Page: Environmental and Human Rights Law | One Ocean Hub