cop-27-and-defenders_2-november-2022-466bc6823a020ef0.pdf

This joint NGO briefing urges UNFCCC COP27 to integrate the protection of land and environmental defenders into climate justice efforts. It highlights the prevalence of violence and legal harassment (SLAPPs) against defenders and recommends that the ACE Action Plan and the Global Stocktake explicitly address human rights obligations. Additionally, it proposes a protocol to ensure host countries of COP meetings guarantee freedom of assembly and association for participants.

• Environmental and land defenders face escalating violence, harassment, and criminalization, often linked to land conflicts with climate-damaging industries such as mining and agribusiness. Global Witness reports that since 2012, an average of one land and environmental defender has been killed every two days.
• The fossil fuel industry has utilized Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and judicial harassment to silence critics. In the United States, EarthRights International identified 134 such cases over a ten-year period.
• The briefing recommends that the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) Action Plan adopted at COP-27 include specific activities to protect defenders. These include holding an ACE Dialogue on Environmental Human Rights Defenders, identifying gaps in access to information and participation through consultations, and providing targeted recommendations for protection.
• The Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement should explicitly assess how National Determined Contributions (NDCs) and climate actions respect and promote human rights. The briefing argues that the GST must address the link between fossil fuel projects and the repression of environmental defenders, ensuring the energy transition does not trigger new human rights violations.
• The briefing calls for the United States and South Africa, as GST co-facilitators, to ensure that human rights experts, Indigenous peoples, and environmental defenders can lead and participate in technical dialogues and roundtables.
• To protect civil society and Indigenous representatives at UNFCCC meetings, the briefing proposes a protocol requiring host countries to guarantee freedom of association and peaceful assembly as a prerequisite for hosting. This is highlighted as a particular challenge for COP27 due to the closed civic space in Egypt.

APA

Natural Justice (n.d.). cop-27-and-defenders_2-november-2022-466bc6823a020ef0.pdf. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/COP-27-and-Defenders_2-November-2022.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. cop-27-and-defenders_2-november-2022-466bc6823a020ef0.pdf. n.d. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/COP-27-and-Defenders_2-November-2022.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=cop-27-and-defenders_2-november-2022-466bc6823a020ef0.pdf |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/COP-27-and-Defenders_2-November-2022.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljusticendcop27anddefenders2november2022466bc6823a020ef0pdf, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{cop-27-and-defenders\_2-november-2022-466bc6823a020ef0.pdf}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/COP-27-and-Defenders_2-November-2022.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }