1. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands, and of the resources that they use and manage.
2. States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that peasants and other people working in rural areas enjoy, without discrimination, a safe, clean and healthy environment.
3. States shall comply with their respective international obligations to combat climate change. Peasants and other people working in rural areas have the right to contribute to the design and implementation of national and local climate change adaptation and mitigation policies, including through the use of practices and traditional knowledge.
4. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no hazardous material, substance or waste is stored or disposed of on the land of peasants and other people working in rural areas, and shall cooperate to address the threats to the enjoyment of their rights that result from transboundary environmental harm.
5. States shall protect peasants and other people working in rural areas against abuses by non-State actors, including by enforcing environmental laws that contribute, directly or indirectly, to the protection of the rights of peasants or other people working in rural areas.
Editor’s note: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to a healthy environment has launched a call for inputs to inform a forthcoming thematic report on environmental human rights defenders, to be presented at the 64th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. This is an important opportunity for rural social movements,…
Photo: MST (Brazil) This article draws on the example of Brazil to illustrate the synergies and complementarities between agroecology and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). What do we actually mean by agroecology? In summary, one could say that agroecology is a life project:…
La Via Campesina and CETIM have organized a training course for La Via Campesina members in August 2023, and are now making training materials available to all. This material is also available in PDF version here. Session 2 of the UNDROP training seminar aims to provide a general overview and analysis of the key rights…
FIAN International releases a series of briefings exploring how the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) is to impact the rural world These briefings take a close look at the rights, principles and states obligations adopted in UNDROP by the United Nations General Assembly on…
