International Relations, GS2, UN Resolutions, Ocean Governance

By IAS Monk / April 5, 2025

🌐 A Resolution for the Planet
On April 4, 2025, the UN Human Rights Council made history at its 58th session:

• Officially recognized the link between plastic pollution and human rights.
• Declared the ocean a shared human rights concern — not just an environmental one.
• Reinforced the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

🌊 From Nature to Rights
For the first time, UN Member States agreed:

• Ocean degradation affects not just biodiversity — but human dignity, livelihoods, and health.
• Plastic pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss form a triple planetary crisis.
• Coastal and island communities are most vulnerable.

📜 A Path Shaped by Precedent
This resolution builds on:

• 2021: UNHRC first recognizes right to a healthy environment
• 2022: UN General Assembly formally adopts it
• 2024: Report by UN Special Rapporteur links oceans to human rights, urging urgent action

🤝 Human Rights-Based Ocean Governance
The resolution urges ocean governance that:

• Involves local communities and Indigenous Peoples
• Ensures transparency, accountability, and inclusivity
• Promotes protection of vulnerable groups

🧠 Role of Indigenous Knowledge

• Calls for integrating traditional ecological knowledge
• Recognises Indigenous and local wisdom as key to sustainability and resilience

♻️ Full Life-Cycle Plastic Strategy

• Emphasises the need for action across the entire plastics life cycle
• Urges global cooperation to phase out harmful plastics
• Pushes for climate-resilient, just transitions for affected communities

🌍 Closing Whisper
“What we throw into the sea returns in waves—
Not just as waste, but as wounds to the rights of all who live.”

— IAS Monk