The Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment - Astrid Puentes Riaño - published her report on the relationship between the ocean and human rights and why ocean issues are human rights issues. The report ends with recommendations for businesses, as well as States and UN entities. This report was published in December 2024 and presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2025.
Human Level’s Take:
- The ocean is not just a vast body of water - it’s a lifeline for humanity. Ocean issues are human rights issues. How?
- We rely on the ocean for food and income. Fisheries provide an important source of high-quality dietary protein and micronutrients for millions of people and generate income for fisherfolk communities. We rely on the ocean to breathe, with scientists estimating that the ocean produces 50-80% of oxygen on Earth. We also rely on the ocean to regulate the climate, filter air and water and mitigate the impact of natural disasters. Currently, the ocean is the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth, storing over 38,000 billion tons of carbon - over 28 times more carbon stored by land and atmosphere combined
- Despite its vital role, the ocean faces major threats. Industrial overfishing depletes fish stocks, endangering food security and livelihoods, especially for small-scale fishers. It fuels illegal and unregulated fishing, linked to forced labour, trafficking, and unsafe working conditions. Women - nearly half of the fishing workforce - are undervalued, underpaid, and denied access to fishing rights and secure land. Large-scale development for aquaculture, mining, and tourism displaces fishing communities without fair compensation and consultation. Even those cleaning up the damage - informal waste pickers, often women and children - work in hazardous conditions. Meanwhile, human rights defenders - especially Indigenous Peoples, coastal communities, women, girls and youth - are increasingly harassed, attacked, and even killed for calling out extractive industries and their adverse impacts on the ocean and their rights
- So, what can companies do? Companies can recognise and comply with their responsibility to respect human rights in relation to all ocean efforts, in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In practice, this means: 1) conducting robust environmental and human rights due diligence across the full value chain in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and address ocean-related risks and impacts; 2) incorporating human rights considerations into energy transition programmes and other initiatives to ensure a just transition; 3) decommissioning liabilities and covering the full cost of the closure and clean-up of industrial complexes in marine areas; and 4) collaborating with States, the UN system, regional efforts and other initiatives to contribute to the advancement of measures to protect and conserve the ocean, implementing a human rights- and ecosystem-based approach
Some key takeaways:
- How is the ocean linked to the right to a healthy environment and human rights? The ocean is linked to a healthy environment and human rights in a multitude of ways. First, the ocean underpins sustainable food systems. Fisheries provide an important source of high-quality dietary protein and micronutrients for millions of people and generate income for fisherfolk communities, with women making up almost half of the global fishing workforce. These communities have a historical connection with coastal landscapes and seas, which are foundational to their identity and existence, including their livelihood, culture, education and transportation. Second, a healthy ocean is foundational to healthy ecosystems - which are essential for human life. The ocean encompasses multiple ecosystems and provides vital services to human and animal communities. For example, scientists estimate that 50-80% of oxygen produced on Earth comes from the ocean. The ocean is also home to marine microbes (making up 98% of the ocean’s biomass) which are essential to the food chain, the production of nutrients for land and sea, and the health of all animals and humans. Third, the ocean is essential for a safe climate as it regulates the Earth’s climate, filters air and water, recycles nutrients and mitigates the impact of natural disasters. Currently, it is the largest active carbon reservoir on Earth, storing around 38,000 billion tons of carbon - over 28 times more carbon stored by land vegetation and the atmosphere combined. Fourth, ocean defenders - who are also human rights defenders - are increasingly the subject of attacks as they advocate for the protection of the ocean from extractive industrialisation in order to safeguard their livelihoods and cultures. These defenders suffer from a range of attacks, such as harassment, intimidation, marginalisation, criminalisation, and assassination. Indigenous Peoples and coastal communities, particularly women and girls, children and young people, disproportionately represent those at the forefront of advocacy efforts to protect the oceans and their rights.
- Main challenges for the ocean and human rights: There are many challenges to protecting the ocean. These challenges are: 1) weak governance. Over 600 fragmented legal and institutional frameworks have led to ineffective ocean governance, worsened by corruption, lack of transparency, and weak enforcement; 2) industrial fisheries. Industrial fishing prioritises profits over sustainability, incentivising overfishing and exacerbating environmental degradation. This undermines the food security and livelihoods of billions, particularly those in low-income countries who are dependent on small-scale fisheries. Illegal and unregulated fishing employs destructive methods (such as bottom trawling) and is linked to human rights abuses, including forced labour and trafficking, especially impacting migrant workers. For example, at least 128,000 fishers are trapped in forced labour abroad fishing vessels, while over 100,000 people die in fishing-related accidents annually; 3) lack of support for small-scale fishers. For instance, women make up 47% of the global workforce and face systemic inequities, including undervalued and underpaid work and a lack of access to decent working conditions, fishing rights and secure land. In addition, conflicts and resource-grabbing linked to large-scale development projects, including aquaculture, mining, fishing and tourism, lead to a loss of traditional fishing grounds and the displacement of small-scale fishing communities without adequate compensation or consultation; 4) disordered coastal urbanisation, with unplanned development and tourism harming coastlines; 5) marine pollution, particularly from plastic pollution and hazardous waste, impact marine ecosystems and human health. Informal waste pickers, often women and children, face unsafe working conditions, exploitation and negative health impacts; 6) land pollution, with 80% of marine pollution coming from terrestrial sources; 7) climate change which is driving ocean warming, acidification, and sea level rise, as well as displacement of communities; 8) deep-sea mining poses unknown but potentially harmful consequences for fragile deep-sea marine biodiversity and ocean ecosystems; 9) marine geoengineering to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere poses significant risks to marine ecosystems, intensifies pollution, and disproportionately impacts Indigenous Peoples’ rights by increasing the risk of land-grabbing and violence; and 10) the blue economy which prioritises corporate profits over environmental protection and human rights
.
- What can companies do? The Special Rapporteur recommends that businesses recognise and comply with their obligation to respect human rights in relation to all ocean efforts, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other regional and national regulations. This entails the following: 1) collaborating with States, the UN system, regional efforts and other initiatives to contribute to the advancement of measures to protect and conserve the ocean, implementing a human rights- and ecosystem-based approach and abstaining from undue influence resulting in human rights violations; 2) act with due diligence to respect human rights in activities that might increase ocean and coastal degradation, including by adopting robust, time-bound targets that address ecosystem degradation, and systematically assess the impact of their activities, considering the totality of their value chains; and 3) ensure the fulfilment of their decommissioning liabilities and cover the full cost of the closure and clean-up of industrial complexes in marine areas, including the proper decommissioning of offshore oil and gas infrastructure, to avoid contributing to the toxic legacy of such complexes. In addition, companies can incorporate human rights considerations into their energy transition programmes and other initiatives. As the report notes, “[h]uman rights must be considered for a just transition, with a focus on creating decent work opportunities, addressing energy poverty and ensuring fair economic transitions for Indigenous and small-scale fisher communities.”
