Connecting ecosystem services research and human rights to revamp the application of the precautionary principle

Niner, Holly J. and Morgera, Elisa and Longo, Andrea and Howell, Kerry L. and Rees, Siân E. (2024) Connecting ecosystem services research and human rights to revamp the application of the precautionary principle. npj Ocean Sustainability, 3 (1). 35. ISSN 2731-426X (https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-024-00072-8)

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Abstract

With ecosystem services (ES) vital for human wellbeing1, the protection of nature is a human rights matter. We outline how recent advances in international human rights law should inform a revamp of how precaution is applied within environmental decision-making. Critically, precautionary decision-making must evolve to make use of best-available evidence, including novel ES research approaches, to assess ‘foreseeable’ harms to all aspects of human wellbeing that are protected as human rights.

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