A/HRC/19/34 20. Fifth, another important threat is the loss of biodiversity, which can particularly affect the resilience of communities that closely depend on the environment for livelihoods and development. Biodiversity should be distinguished from wildlife conservation, in order to develop a more focused approach to elucidating the impacts of biodiversity loss on human rights. 21. Sixth, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, since 2000, over 2,500 natural disasters have occurred worldwide, impacting billions of people. Between 1987 and 2007, more than 1.5 million people died as a result of natural disasters, such as from hurricanes and tropical cyclones, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, droughts, floods and landslides. Certain natural disasters may be aggravated by human activity, such as the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, while others are the result of geological processes that require further explanation. In either case, human rights are implicated and entail the need for measures to prevent risks, including the dissemination of reliable and adequate information to the public. 22. In summary, a number of environmental threats have, or will have, an adverse impact on all aspects of human rights and well-being, and environmental protection must be ensured to protect human rights and sustain and improve human well-being. IV. Environmental protection contributes to the enjoyment of human rights 23. A significant number of international human rights and environmental instruments show how environmental protection contributes to the enjoyment of human rights. This section analyses the relationship between human rights and the environment under existing international human rights and environmental instruments. Examination of these instruments indicates that human rights and the environment are interrelated, as such instruments recognize that the environment plays a critical part in protecting and promoting human rights. 24. As environmental awareness grows, there is greater understanding that the survival and development of humanity and the enjoyment of human rights are dependent on a healthy and safe environment. Accordingly, the need to protect and promote a healthy environment is indispensable not only for the sake of human rights, but also to protect the common heritage of mankind. By establishing the relationship between human rights and the environment, human rights and environmental instruments contribute significantly to ensuring the enjoyment of human rights and a healthy environment. 25. Certain international human rights instruments concluded after the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment explicitly recognized the linkage between human rights and the environment. For example, the Convention on the Rights of the Child refers to the environment plainly: article 24, paragraph 2 (c), requires States to pursue the full realization of the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution. Regional human rights instruments such as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights make explicit references to the environment. 26. Older human rights instruments that were adopted before the linkage between human rights and the environment emerged do not explicitly refer to the environment. However, as detailed in subsequent sections, the human rights treaty bodies and regional human rights mechanisms have interpreted their respective human rights instruments in a manner that recognizes the environmental dimensions of protected rights. In this regard, older human rights instruments recognize the linkage between human rights and the environment by 6