A/HRC/43/53 Ethiopia shut down four tanneries over toxic waste emissions. 55 Myanmar temporarily suspended operations at two tin mining sites and 17 factories for environmental noncompliance. 6. Healthy ecosystems and biodiversity 103. Humanity depends on nature for a vast range of products and ecological services, from food, fibre and medicine to pollination, clean air, water and soil. Human rights may be jeopardized by lack of access to nature’s bounty or by actions taken to protect nature that fail to take rights into consideration (see A/HRC/34/49). Globally, wildlife populations have declined by 60 per cent since 1970, and as many as 1 million species are at risk of extinction. The decline or disappearance of a particular species could have a devastating impact on an indigenous community and their rights. The creation of a new protected area without the consultation and consent of indigenous peoples or local communities could, however, violate their rights (see A/71/229). 104. International environmental law establishes norms and standards for the protection of the diversity and abundance of life on Earth through global treaties, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. For example, the Aichi Biodiversity Targets set pursuant to the Convention on Biological Diversity aim at protecting 17 per cent of representative ecosystems on land and 10 per cent in the oceans by 2020. Regional environmental treaties are also important. 105. A growing number of constitutions incorporate duties relating to the protection of wildlife and nature, including those of Bhutan, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador and Namibia. In Bhutan, the Constitution requires 60 per cent of land area to be maintained under forest cover for all time. The Constitutions of the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Ecuador refer to the rights of non-human species, while that of Ecuador contains comprehensive provisions relating to the rights of Pachamama or Mother Earth. Recognizing the rights of nature could reduce environmental harm, potentially benefiting human rights. 106. At the legislative level, almost all States have specific laws protecting wildlife and wildlife habitat, and managing activities that could harm or overexploit other species, such as fishing, hunting, mining, agriculture and forestry. 107. The States that protect at least 25 per cent of their land include Andorra, Austria, the Bahamas, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, the Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palau, Poland, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. 56 In total, over 15 per cent of the world’s land – more than 25 million square kilometres (the size of North America) – is now protected, which should help to conserve biodiversity.57 108. Sixteen States have protected at least 25 per cent of their marine territory: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, France, Gabon, Germany, Jordan, Lithuania, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Palau, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States.58 109. Laws that recognize the land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities have recently been passed by Kenya (the Community Land Act of 2016), Mali (Agricultural Land Law of 2017) and Zambia (Forest Act of 2015). Indigenous peoples and local communities 55 56 57 58 A/HRC/WG.6/33/ETH/1, para. 38. See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ER.LND.PTLD.ZS. James E.M. Watson et al., “The performance and potential of protected areas”, Nature, vol. 515, pp. 67–73. See https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ER.MRN.PTMR.ZS. 17