A/HRC/43/54 environmental conditions, therefore having a positive impact on human rights. For example, legally binding and enforceable air quality standards may not include any reference to human rights but can directly contribute to improved air quality, thus reducing negative impacts on a range of human rights (A/HRC/40/55). The discussion was divided into four regional groups. The Special Rapporteur provides a more comprehensive set of good practices in his report to the Human Rights Council for 2020 (A/HRC/43/53). A. Africa 7. Over 35 States in Africa guarantee the right to a healthy environment through their constitutions,1 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 1981 provides that “all peoples shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favourable to their development” (art. 24). This led courts in Kenya and Nigeria to make important rulings based on this right, finding it to be an essential part of the constitutional right to life, even though it was not explicitly articulated as such in the constitution of either Kenya or Nigeria (although the right was included in the new Constitution of Kenya of 2010). For example, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights produced a groundbreaking decision in 2001 in a case in Nigeria involving pollution caused by the oil industry that violated the Ogoni people’s right to a healthy environment under the African Charter. Some States in Africa have taken additional steps and created institutions to deal with the environmental matters guaranteed in national laws. 8. Several good practices were reported from States in Africa. In Zimbabwe, environmental education is provided as a mandatory course in schools.2 In Uganda, a court refused to dismiss a lawsuit seeking remedies for air pollution by rejecting the Government’s argument that the country lacked any enforceable air quality standards. In South Africa, the majority of environmental legislation has been amended to focus on fulfilling the constitutional right to a healthy environment, and there is currently an increasing number of cases based on alleged violations of this right. Section 24 of the Constitution of South Africa enables individuals, environmental organizations and communities to bring lawsuits on the right to a healthy environment. The professionalization of environmental actors in the region has facilitated an increase in environmental litigation. In Morocco, development strategies embrace strong environmental components such as the use of green bonds to finance climate-sensitive development planning and renewable energy projects. The Great Green Wall is an ambitious project that seeks to restore tens of millions of hectares of degraded land in the Sahel region, south of the Sahara Desert. Twenty-one States are involved, from Senegal and the Niger in the west to Ethiopia and Djibouti in the east.3 The restoration of forests and farmland will improve food security, offer decent livelihoods, reduce poverty, enhance access to water and contribute to tackling climate change, with benefits for a wide range of human rights. B. Asia and the Pacific 9. The right to a healthy environment is guaranteed through the constitutions of at least 15 countries in Asia and the Pacific.4 The right is recognized in the Arab Charter on Human Rights of 2004, which includes the right to a healthy environment as part of the right to an adequate standard of living (art. 38). In 2012, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations recognized the right through the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration by 1 2 3 4 4 David R. Boyd, “Catalyst for change: evaluating forty years of experience in implementing the right to a healthy environment”, in The Human Right to a Healthy Environment, John H. Knox and Ramin Pejan, eds. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018). Soul Shava, “Environmental education policy development in Zimbabwe: an educational experience”, Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 20 (2003), pp. 129–134. See the Great Green Wall. Available at www.greatgreenwall.org. David R. Boyd, “Catalyst for change”.