The climate-biodiversity-pollution nexus represents a critical convergence of environmental challenges. Addressing it is essential to halt or reverse biodiversity loss, yet major obstacles persist. Effective management requires holistic strategies that address the intertwined issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. To realise these goals, many management instruments have been put forward. However, poorly designed instruments can inadvertently exacerbate trade-offs related to climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. There is a need to better understand how to manage the nexus in an effective and equitable way to ensure transformations toward more sustainable and just futures.
In this context, Human Rights-Based Approaches (HRBA) are gaining increased attention. HRBA act as cross-cutting approaches to key frameworks, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and are not merely another instrument but represent a new paradigm that provides a transformative meaning to current management instruments. However, applying an HRBA remains challenging, as anthropocentric interpretations of HRBA often struggle to recognise the validity of different ways of life, which are not necessarily comparable, as well as the crucial role of non-human beings.
