Nicole Leotaud
Nicole Leotaud is a Caribbean environmental leader, policy expert, and advocate for sustainable development with more than three decades of experience advancing environmental governance, natural resource management, and climate resilience across the region. She serves as Executive Director of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), a leading independent nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting participatory approaches to conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and equitable development in the Caribbean.
Throughout her career, Nicole has worked at the intersection of people, policy, and the environment, supporting initiatives focused on the inclusive governance and management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, green and blue economies, community livelihoods, climate adaptation, disaster resilience, and environmental justice. Her work has helped strengthen the capacity of governments, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and the private sector to collaborate in addressing some of the Caribbean’s most pressing environmental and development challenges.
Nicole currently serves as an Elected Representative of the Public to the Escazú Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. A passionate advocate for the Caribbean and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), she is widely recognized for championing equitable, people-centered approaches to conservation and sustainable development at regional and global levels.
Through her leadership, Nicole continues to inspire action toward a more resilient, just, and sustainable future for the Caribbean and its people.
Title: Rights of Nature and People: A New Vision for Conservation and Environmental Justice in the Caribbean
Abstract
Across the Caribbean, biodiversity loss, climate change, and environmental degradation are threatening both ecosystems and communities. Meeting these interconnected challenges requires a shift in how we understand justice – one that recognises both the inherent rights of nature and every person’s right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
This keynote explores two transformative developments reshaping environmental governance in the region. The first is the Escazú Agreement, which advances environmental democracy through access to information, public participation, access to justice, and unprecedented protections for environmental defenders. The second is the Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ landmark 2025 Advisory Opinion, which affirmed that nature can hold inherent legal rights, recognised the profound interdependence between healthy ecosystems and human rights, and strengthened recognition of the human right to a healthy environment.
Drawing on examples from across the Caribbean, including Aruba’s initiative to constitutionally recognise the inherent rights of nature and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, this keynote explores existing constitutional protections, current legal and policy frameworks, the challenges facing Caribbean environmental defenders, and opportunities to strengthen environmental governance. It argues that embedding the rights of nature alongside human rights offers a powerful pathway for conserving the Caribbean’s extraordinary natural heritage while advancing biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, environmental justice, and long-term prosperity for present and future generations.