quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations unborn.” 33 53. Subsequently, in the case concerning the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project, the International Court of Justice emphasized the great importance of the environment, not only for the States, but also for all humanity, as follows: “The Court recalls that it has recently had occasion to stress [...] the great significance that it attaches to respect for the environment, not only for States but also for the whole of mankind.” 34 54. In addition, international organizations such as the Organization of American States and the United Nations, whose mandate includes the protection of human rights, have recognized the undeniable connectivity between the protection of the environment and the full exercise and enjoyment of human rights. 55. Similarly, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has frequently affirmed: “[...] even though neither the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man nor the American Convention on Human right include express references to the protection of the environment, it is clear that several rights of a fundamental nature that are recognized in these instruments require, as a precondition for their due exercise, a minimum environmental quality, and are profoundly affected by the degradation of natural resource.” 35 56. Meanwhile the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has asserted that: “[I]n accordance with the case law of this Court and the European Court of Human Rights, there is an undeniable link between the protection of the environment and the enjoyment of other human rights. The ways in which environmental degradation and the adverse effects of climate change have impaired the effective enjoyment of human rights in the continent has been the subject of discussion by the General Assembly of both the Organization of American States and the United Nations. It should also be noted that a considerable number of States Parties to the American Convention have adopted constitutional provisions which expressly recognize the right to a healthy environment.” 36 57. Again citing the Stockholm Declaration adopted at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the enjoyment of fundamental rights presupposes per se access to an environment ��of quality” as established in Principle 1 of this Declaration: “Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an 33 I.C.J., Legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, Advisory Opinion of July 8, 1996, para. 29. 34 I.C.J., Case concerning the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project, judgment of September 25, 1997, para. 53. 35 IACHR, Report on the situation of human rights in Ecuador. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, Doc.10 rev.1, April 24, 1997; IACHR, Indigenous and tribal peoples’ rights over their ancestral lands and natural resources. Norms and jurisprudence of the inter-American human rights system. OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 56/09 (December 30, 2009), para. 190 and, more recently, in: IACHR, The Kuna Indigenous People of Madungandi and the Embera Indigenous People of Bayano and their members, Report No. 125/12, Case 12,354, Merits, para. 233. 36 ICourtHR, Case of Kawas Fernández v. Honduras, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of April 3, 2009. Series C No. 196, para. 148. 60