Human rights and the rights of nature are linchpins for truly sustainable development.
United Nations member states unanimously adopted the sustainable development agenda in 2015. It aims to ensure development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet them” (1987 Brundtland Report, “Our Common Future”). This agenda outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sets out 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. They represent the programme’s accountability framework.
None of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is specifically devoted to human rights. In reality, they are everywhere – at the heart of the social, economic, cultural, civil, and political life of all inhabitants of the world, but also at the centre of contemporary ecological issues, which the United Nations General Assembly endorsed in 2022 through a historic resolution acknowledging the right to a healthy environment as a human right.
According to the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), 92% of the SDG targets are rooted in international human rights law. The promotion, respect and protection of human rights therefore form the backbone of the SDGs.
