A/HRC/37/59 General Assembly could adopt a similar resolution that recognizes the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, another right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.2 15. States may be understandably reluctant to recognize a “new” human right if its content is uncertain. To be sure that a right will be taken seriously, it is important to be clear about its implications. The Special Rapporteur notes that one of the primary goals of his work on the mandate has been to clarify what human rights law requires with respect to environmental protection, including through the mapping project and these framework principles. As a result, the “human right to a healthy environment” is not an empty vessel waiting to be filled; on the contrary, its content has already been clarified, through recognition by human rights authorities that a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is necessary for the full enjoyment of the human rights to life, health, food, water, housing and so forth. Here, too, the right is similar to the rights to water and sanitation, whose content had been addressed in detail by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Catarina de Albuquerque, the first Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, before the General Assembly acted in 2010. 16. Even without formal recognition, the term “the human right to a healthy environment” is already being used to refer to the environmental aspects of the entire range of human rights that depend on a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The use of the term in this way — and, for that matter, the adoption of a resolution recognizing the right — does not change the legal content of obligations that are based on existing human rights law. Nevertheless, it has real advantages. It raises awareness that human rights norms require protection of the environment and highlights that environmental protection is on the same level of importance as other human interests that are fundamental to human dignity, equality and freedom. It also helps to ensure that human rights norms relating to the environment continue to develop in a coherent and integrated manner. Recognition of the right in a General Assembly resolution would further strengthen all of these benefits. IV. Looking forward 17. Although the relationship of human rights and the environment has evolved rapidly over the past two decades, and even more so over the past five years, much remains to be done to clarify and implement the human rights obligations relating to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Human Rights Council to continue to be actively involved in the development of this relationship, including by renewing the mandate. 18. For example, more work is necessary to clarify how human rights norms relating to the environment apply to specific areas, including issues of gender and other types of discrimination, the responsibilities of businesses in relation to human rights and the environment, the effects of armed conflict on human rights and the environment, and obligations of international cooperation in relation to multinational corporations and transboundary harm. 19. More work, too, can be done to institutionalize support for capacity-building, including by instituting an annual forum on human rights and environmental issues; holding conferences for national human rights institutions on environmental matters; continuing to hold judicial workshops on human rights and the environment; instituting similar workshops for officials at environmental, mining and other agencies; strengthening 2 A resolution by the General Assembly is not the only possible instrument through which a right to a healthy environment could be formally recognized. The Special Rapporteur notes that at the seventysecond session of the General Assembly, the Government of France presented for consideration a Global Pact for the Environment, article 1 of which indicates that “Every person has the right to live in an ecologically sound environment adequate for their health, well-being, dignity, culture and fulfilment”. However, a resolution may be adopted more quickly and easily than an international agreement. 5