United Nations member states unanimously adopted the sustainable development agenda in 2015. It aims to ensure development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet them” (1987 Brundtland Report, “Our Common Future”). This agenda outlines 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sets out 169 targets to be achieved by 2030. They represent the programme’s accountability framework.

None of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is specifically devoted to human rights. In reality, they are everywhere – at the heart of the social, economic, cultural, civil, and political life of all inhabitants of the world, but also at the centre of contemporary ecological issues, which the United Nations General Assembly endorsed in 2022 through a historic resolution acknowledging the right to a healthy environment as a human right.

According to the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), 92% of the SDG targets are rooted in international human rights law. The promotion, respect and protection of human rights therefore form the backbone of the SDGs.

‘Strong sustainability’, a prerequisite for preserving nature and the universality of human rights

On the whole, the SDGs combine environmental, economic, human development and governance issues. However, there are several competing visions, based on different economic and environmental assumptions, regarding how to achieve them. These are referred to as “weak” and “strong” sustainability. The latter is a concept that aims to strengthen sustainable development by ensuring that economic policies do not compromise (or sacrifice) human development, the environment or nature.

Unlike weak sustainability (based on the concepts of the substitutability of natural capital), strong sustainability is based on the principle that natural capital is irreplaceable and must be preserved.

Three key principles of strong sustainability stand out:

the finite nature of the environment

the finite nature of the environment

the limits to economic growth.

the limits to economic growth.

Within this framework, the human rights-based approach and the approach based on the rights of nature are essential for truly sustainable development. This involves recognising nature – ecosystems and natural entities – as........

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