A/HRC/37/58 throughout their lives. There can be no doubt that environmental harm interferes with children’s rights to life, health and development. 2. Right to an adequate standard of living 34. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has explained that the right to an adequate standard of living is intentionally expansive and that the Covenant includes a number of rights emanating from, and indispensable for, the realization of the right, 47 such as the rights to food, housing and safe and clean water and sanitation. The Convention on the Rights of the Child links the right to the development of children, recognizing the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development (art. 27). 35. Environmental degradation obviously interferes with the enjoyment of the rights to food, housing, water and sanitation, and to an adequate standard of living generally. The lack of clean air and water, the exposure to hazardous chemicals and waste, the effects of climate change and the loss of biodiversity not only prevent children from enjoying their rights today; by interfering with their normal development, environmental harm prevents them from enjoying their rights in the future, and often throughout their lives. 3. Rights to play and recreation 36. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts (art. 31). As the Committee on the Rights of the Child has explained, play and recreation are essential to the health and wellbeing of children and promote the development of creativity, imagination, self-confidence and self-efficacy, as well as physical, social, cognitive and emotional strength and skills. 48 In addition to being of intrinsic value to children, play and recreation are critical to development, facilitating children’s capacities to negotiate, regain emotional balance, resolve conflicts and make decisions. Through their involvement in play and recreation, children learn by doing; they explore and experience the world around them; experiment with new ideas, roles and experiences and in so doing, learn to understand and construct their social position within the world.49 37. Opportunities for play and recreation depend upon access to a healthy and safe environment. 50 Many children, and the vast majority of children living in poverty, face hazardous conditions when they leave their homes, including polluted water, open waste sites, toxic substances and the lack of safe green spaces. 51 While children will seek out opportunities for play and recreation even in dangerous environments, children who cannot play outside without exposing themselves to such environmental harms cannot fully enjoy their right to play and recreation. Even when their immediate surroundings are safe, the millions of children who live in urban settings often lack access to natural environments. IV. Human rights obligations relating to the protection of children from environmental harm 38. The human rights obligations of States in relation to the environment 52 apply with particular force to the rights of children, who are especially at risk from environmental harm and often unable to protect their own rights. Although these obligations arise from a wide variety of sources, the present report gives particular attention to the Convention on the Rights of the Child because of its focus on children and its near-universal acceptance by 47 48 49 50 51 52 10 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water, para. 3. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 17, para. 9. Ibid. Ibid., para. 26. Ibid., para. 35. For a summary of the obligations, see the framework principles on human rights and the environment presented to the thirty-seventh session of the Council (A/HRC/37/59, annex).