A/HRC/34/49 29. Some conservation agreements require or encourage States to conduct assessments, provide access to information and facilitate public participation. 49 In addition, many States have made important strides to implement access rights through their national legislation, including with respect to measures that would affect ecosystems and biodiversity. Many of the responses to the questionnaire sent by the Special Rapporteur provide examples of procedural safeguards and innovations at the national level. 50 30. At the international level, States have developed exemplary practices with respect to the right to information, including regular assessments of progress towards the goals of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 51 The most important recent development relating to the right to information may be the creation in 2012 of the Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. More than 100 States are parties to the Platform, whose purpose is to produce high-quality, peer-reviewed reports in response to requests by Governments. Its first report was an assessment of different scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services and its second an examination of pollination and pollinators around the world. The Platform’s ongoing work programme includes four regional assessments, one each for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia. 52 31. There are also many failures to meet procedural obligations in relation to biodiversity. For example, many States need to provide more effective remedies to those harmed by the loss and degradation of ecosystems. Perhaps the most egregious problem, however, is the continuing failure to protect environmental human rights defenders, which has been recently described in detail by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (A/71/281). Often the links between environmental defence and the enjoyment of human rights are clear, as when a community objects to a mine that would pollute its drinking water. But even people who protect components of ecosystems whose benefits to humans may be less obvious, such as endangered species (see, e.g., A/HRC/25/53/Add.1, para. 54), are still defending the biodiversity on which we all depend. They are also environmental human rights defenders, and they deserve our protection. 32. Unfortunately, like other defenders, they often fail to receive it. In 2015 alone, there were 185 confirmed killings of environmental and land defenders around the world. 53 Countless others are harassed and subjected to violence. As pressures to exploit natural resources grow, those who oppose unsustainable exploitation are increasingly under attack. Sometimes, government actors themselves commit or are complicit in the persecution. Even when they are not directly involved, Governments often fail to respond to threats, investigate violations and arrest those responsible, thereby creating a culture of impunity that encourages further attacks. Moreover, States have adopted laws that criminalize peaceful protests and opposition, restrict or prohibit the operations of civil society 49 50 51 52 53 See, e.g., the Convention on Biological Diversity, art. 14 (environmental assessment, public participation); the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, art. 3 (public participation) and the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, art. 27 (public information). All of the responses to the questionnaire are available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Environment/ SREnvironment/Pages/SubmissionsBiodiversity.aspx. The assessments are available at www.cbd.int/gbo/default.shtml. Information about the Platform and its work programme is available at www.ipbes.net. Global Witness, On Dangerous Ground (2016). Available at www.globalwitness.org/ en/reports/dangerous-ground. 11