A/HRC/43/53/Add.1 rights. Fiji is a party to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) and deserves credit for introducing a bill on traditional knowledge, intended to protect the intellectual and cultural property rights of the iTaukei people. However, Fiji has not endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 27. Fiji has made it clear that climate change is its top environmental priority. However, other environmental problems also demand attention. The State’s ranking on the Environmental Performance Index of 2018, published by Yale and Columbia universities, is 107th out of 180 nations. According to that study, areas of strong performance include fisheries, forests and heavy metals. Areas that need strengthening include biodiversity and habitat protection, waste management and air pollution. 28. The World Health Organization estimates that environmental risk factors such as air pollution and water contamination contribute to 918 deaths per year in Fiji, or approximately 15 per cent of total deaths. This compares favourably to most other countries, but these premature deaths could be prevented with stronger environmental laws and policies, as well as increased implementation and enforcement. 29. Rapid urbanization is leading to increased demand for housing, infrastructure and public services, especially in the greater Suva area. At present, there is a need for a comprehensive, coordinated and strategic regional and urban planning process. Of particular concern from the perspective of environmental risks and human rights are urban sprawl, inadequate sewage collection and wastewater treatment infrastructure, and poor solid waste management. 30. There are about 200 informal settlements in Fiji, home to approximately 15 per cent of the population. Informal settlements often lie on the outskirts of cities and towns, have not been subject to zoning or subdivision plans and are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Most residents have migrated from outer islands or rural areas. Housing quality is poor, increasing vulnerability to climate-related natural disasters, and access to municipal services is limited, leading to pollution and health risks. In Vuniivi and Qauia, the two informal settlements near Lami that the Special Rapporteur visited, the three major concerns are regular flooding, inadequate sanitation and a lack of waste management services. IV. Fulfilling the right to a clean and healthy environment 31. The right to a clean and healthy environment, articulated in the Constitution of Fiji, has both procedural and substantive elements. The procedural elements include the rights of access to environmental information, public participation in environmental assessments and decision-making, and access to justice and adequate remedies in cases where the right to a clean and healthy environment is being threatened or violated. The substantive elements include a safe climate, clean air, safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, non-toxic environments in which to live, work, study and play, and healthy biodiversity and ecosystems. 32. At the same time that the full enjoyment of human rights depends on a healthy environment, the exercise of human rights helps to ensure the protection of the environment. The free and full exercise of rights relating to information, participation and access to justice enables people to ensure that environmental policy is fair and effective. In some countries today, it is dangerous to be an environmental human rights defender, as they are harassed, sued, subjected to violence and even murdered. Governments have obligations to protect environmental defenders from such threats to ensure that they can participate fully and without fear in the environmental decision-making process. 33. Fiji is fortunately not among the countries where environmental defenders have been reported as murdered or imprisoned. Yet the Special Rapporteur heard concerns expressed by environmentalists and human rights activists about feeling threatened or intimidated. Fiji should welcome environmentalists and human rights activists with open arms, for their voices are vital to a healthy democracy and their ideas are essential in creating a sustainable future. 7