Prof Morgera delivers training on environmental rights, including of indigenous peoples, small-scale fishers and rural women to FAO

Over 30 legal officers from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) participated in Prof Elisa Morgera’s training session on “International human rights and the environment: what do they mean for the mandate of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO?)” on 30th March-1st April 2021.

Prof Morgera emphasized the need to support national legal provisions on the human rights of indigenous peoples, small-scale fishers and rural women in specific natural resource sectors, to clarify the obligations of public authorities involved in natural resource development and ensure access to justice. She also stressed the importance of ensuring the consideration of these rights in the context of environmental impact assessments, public consultations, and benefit-sharing agreements as part of a partnership-building process.

This was a two-part training co-delivered with Prof John Knox, Wake Forest University School of Law, former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment (who prepared the 2018 UN Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment). Prof Knox and Prof Morgera will now write a legal study for FAO to capture the key contents of the virtual training sessions.