A/HRC/RES/58/16 Welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of resolution 78/272 on 24 April 2024 on the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, Affirming that respect for and the protection and fulfilment of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment contribute to addressing ocean degradation, and at the same time recognizing that maintaining a healthy and clean ocean contributes to the protection of a range of human rights, Recognizing the critical importance of effective early warning systems for environmental risks and disasters in protecting the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable populations and supporting resilience to climate change impacts, and taking note with appreciation of the Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative aimed at ensuring universal access to early warning systems by 2027, Reaffirming resolution 5/14 adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme on 2 March 2022, in which the Assembly established an intergovernmental negotiating committee with a mandate to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, Emphasizing the importance of States taking decisive action to address plastic pollution throughout the full life cycle of plastic, including in the marine environment, and highlighting the specific and severe impacts of plastic pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss on the ocean, which jeopardize the realization of human rights, including the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, while underscoring the transboundary nature of plastic pollution and the need for enhanced global cooperation to effectively address this crisis, Reaffirming General Assembly resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which the Assembly adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets, including Goal 14, which focuses on the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean, and Goal 6, on clean water and sanitation, Recognizing the guidance provided by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in its advisory opinion in reply to the Request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on climate change and international law rendered on 21 May 2024, on the obligation of States to protect the ocean from climate change drivers and impacts, Reaffirming Human Rights Council resolution 40/11 of 21 March 2019, in which the Council recognized the positive, important and legitimate role played by human rights defenders in the promotion and protection of human rights, including the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and expressed its deep concern that human rights defenders working in environmental matters, referred to as environmental human rights defenders, are among the human rights defenders most exposed and at risk, Noting international instruments, such as the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters of the Economic Commission for Europe and the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean, Recalling States’ obligations and commitments under multilateral environmental instruments and agreements and the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012, and its outcome document entitled “The future we want”,1 which reaffirmed the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1 2 General Assembly resolution 66/288, annex.