UNITED NATIONS Distr. GENERAL E/CN.4/Sub.2/1990/NGO/9 3 August 1990 Original: ENGLISH COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Forty-second session Item 13 of the provisional agenda HUMAN RIGHTS AND SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS Written statement submitted by FIAN-Food first International Action Network a non-governmental organization in consultative status (Roster) The Secretary-General has received the following communication, which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1296 (XLIV). (23 July 1990] GE.90-17032/4135a E/CN.4/Sub.2/1990/NGO/9 oaqe 2 HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT The environment and the right to food 1. The emphasis in the work of the Food first International Action Network (FIAN) on the right to food is on the issue of land rights of peasants, landless agricultural workers and indigenous peoples. For these groups adequate land provides the only secure access to food in human dignity. Hence the realization of their right to food depends on their access to land. Degraded land and a polluted atmosphere interferes with their capacity to oroduce adequate food, as well as with other riqhts such as the right to an adeauate standard of livinq qenerally, to health or to life. 2. The land riqhts of peasants or indiqenous peoples are violated because their land is ecologically damaged or destroyed or taken away and ecologically destroved. For example, the land rights of indigenous peoples living in the rain forest are violated, as in the case of the Huaoranis in the Ecuadorian Amazon, who are suffering from oil exploitation and rapid deforestation (as landless settlers move in, thev themselves victims of the lack of agrarian reform elsewhere in Ecuador). The rights of tribal and rural peoples are often violated by large dam orojects (such as on the Narmada river, India). 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the relationship between human rights and environmental degradation, specifically focusing on the right to food and the impact of ecological damage on the livelihoods of peasants, indigenous peoples, and rural communities. The text highlights the importance of land rights and the violation of these rights due to environmental degradation, large dam projects, and deforestation.

**Category**
Natural resources and environment, Agriculture, forestry and fishing