A Pioneering Platform: Strengthening Environmental Democracy and Justice in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Latin America is considered the most dangerous region in the world for environmental defenders due to increasingly deadly conflicts over natural resources. After a six-year negotiation process, on March 4, 2018, the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters was approved by 24 countries, as the region’s first-ever legally binding treaty on environmental rights. The Regional Agreement, also known as Escazú Convention, represents a pioneering platform supporting global environmental justice. This paper examines how the provisions of this Convention can reduce barriers that undermine vulnerable communities’ ability to exercise their environmental rights.