On October 8th, 2021, the…

On October 8th, 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed the landmark Resolution 48/13 with unanimous support: “The Council recognizes the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment and encourages states to adopt policies for the enjoyment of the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” (Resolution…, 2021).

A Healthy and Sustainable Environment guarantees access to clean air, clean water, healthy food, and livable cities. Our Greenbelt provides us with:
• locally grown food from 5,500 farms,
• clean air from the forested areas that remove the greenhouse gas pollution of the equivalent of 27 million cars per year,
• fresh water from 97,700 hectares of lakes, rivers and wetlands,
• protection during extreme weather events by absorbing rainwater, managing storm water to prevent costly flooding. The health of the Greenbelt affects the quality of drinking water for more than seven million Canadians.
• a home, not just for us but habitat for wildlife including over 78 endangered species.
In 2020, the Greenbelt Foundation found that 84% of Ontarians consider the greenbelt a source of pride and 86% of Ontarians agree that it is one of the most important contributions of our generation to the future of Ontario.
Our Greenbelt is under threat from development and therefore our Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment is also threatened. As Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization and Joyce Msuya deputy executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program wrote in the forward to the IPCC’s Special Report and Global Warming of 1.5 degrees in October 2018 “Every bit of warming matters. Every year matters and every choice matters.” Developing the Greenbelt is not the right choice, it threatens wildlife, endangered species, our human rights and is not the right response to climate change.
Keep your promise, do not open up the greenbelt for development.