The Escazú Agreement is the first environmental treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean and the first globally to protect environmental defenders' rights.
Key Facts
- Adoption date
- 4 March 2018
- Countries eligible to sign
- 33 Latin American and Caribbean nations
- Countries that signed
- 24
- Countries that ratified or acceded
- 18
- Entry into force
- 22 April 2021
- Ratifications required to activate
- 11
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development highlighted the need for a binding regional framework guaranteeing public access to environmental information and justice in Latin America and the Caribbean. ECLAC served as technical secretariat, overseeing a drafting process that ran from 2015 to 2018 to produce the treaty text.
The agreement was adopted on 4 March 2018 in Escazú, Costa Rica, and opened for signature on 27 September 2018. Signed by 24 nations, it establishes legally binding obligations on member states regarding environmental information access, public participation in decision-making, and the protection of environmental defenders.
After Mexico and Argentina's accession provided the required eleven ratifications, the treaty entered into force on 22 April 2021. With 18 states party, it created enforceable regional standards for environmental rights and became the world's first treaty to embed specific legal protections for environmental defenders within an international instrument.
Political Outcome
Treaty adopted and entered into force on 22 April 2021 after 18 ratifications or accessions, establishing binding environmental rights standards across Latin America and the Caribbean.