Connecting Climate Action and Environmental Human Rights Defense

The paper analyzes 170 peer-reviewed studies (2015–2025) to demonstrate that environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs)—including Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and local communities—provide essential contributions to climate action that remain largely invisible in formal UNFCCC frameworks and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). While identity groups are increasingly recognized, the authors find that the specific practice of 'defense' is overlooked, and EHRDs continue to face systemic violence and criminalization, particularly in resource-rich regions. The study advocates for a shift from identity-based recognition to practice-based inclusion to enhance the accountability and effectiveness of global climate governance.

• Environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) contribute substantively to climate mitigation, adaptation, and policy, yet these roles are frequently omitted from formal climate planning mechanisms like Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• A review of 170 peer-reviewed documents from 2015–2025 indicates that while identity groups such as Indigenous Peoples (featured in 58% of the literature) and women (53%) are recognized, the specific term 'defender' is rarely used in UNFCCC literature.
• EHRDs employ diverse strategies to advance climate goals: mitigation is achieved through forest protection and opposing harmful extractive projects; adaptation is strengthened via ecosystem-based strategies like agroforestry and watershed management; and policy is influenced through litigation and promoting inter- and intragenerational equity.
• EHRDs face systemic risks, including criminalization and violence, particularly in areas with high natural resource wealth due to conflicts involving logging, agribusiness, and mining.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Connecting Climate Action and Environmental Human Rights Defense. https://www.wri.org/research/connecting-climate-action-and-environmental-human-rights-defense

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Connecting Climate Action and Environmental Human Rights Defense. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/connecting-climate-action-and-environmental-human-rights-defense.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Connecting Climate Action and Environmental Human Rights Defense |url=https://www.wri.org/research/connecting-climate-action-and-environmental-human-rights-defense |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendconnecting, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Connecting Climate Action and Environmental Human Rights Defense}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/connecting-climate-action-and-environmental-human-rights-defense}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }