On 5 September 2014, the 3rd UNITAR-Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy was held at Yale
University. The conference brought together a wide range of participants,
including representatives of UN agencies, NGOs, academics, human rights
defenders and others to discuss issues related to "Human Rights,
Environmental Sustainability, Post 2015 Development Agenda, and the Future
Climate Regime" (the conference theme). The goal of the conference was to
develop actions and recommendations for policy makers involved in these issues.
Natural Justice attended the conference and also submitted a case study paper on community protocols in Ghana and Kenya.
The conference began with a keynote speech
from Professor John Knox, the UN Independent Expert on human rights and the
environment. He noted that every regional agreement since 1970 has adopted some
form of a right to a healthy environment and that 90 countries now provide for a
right to a healthy environment in their constitutions. He also noted several
benefits of a human rights based approach to the environment, including the
fact that it sets out rules for environmental policy making, such as duties to
conduct impact assessments, make information public, and allow for
participation in decision making.
