A/HRC/48/78 corporations that were currently heavy polluters in all regions of the United States should be regulated, particularly in Louisiana, the location of “Cancer Alley”. Reparations alone were not enough; they should be combined with an effort to stop the processes responsible for the damage caused. 50. Mr. Sunga confirmed that the Working Group endorses the CARICOM 10- point action plan. 51. Mr. Balcerzak spoke about the operational guidelines on the inclusion of people of African descent in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 52. Jose Luis Rengifo Balanta emphasized that the extractive policies that had emerged from large-scale megaprojects and mono crops were strategies designed to deprive peoples of their land. States should step in and protect communities. There was also a relationship between mining, the law and armed conflict. The women who had played a key part throughout this struggle deserved praise. 53. The representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela stated that the Government was working on a draft bill on climate change, and had identified three cases for reparatory processes of environmental racism. The representative of Indonesia reported the Government of Indonesia was providing assistance to small island States. 54. The twenty-eighth session ended with closing remarks, including statements by outgoing members of the Working Group ending their term in 2021, Mr. Gumedze, Mr. Sunga and Mr. Balcerzak. IV. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 55. People of African descent continue to be subjected to environmental racism and are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. Environmental racism refers to environmental injustice in practice and in policies in racialized societies. Environmental racism is a measurable contemporary manifestation of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia and related intolerance. 56. Environmental racism cannot be discussed in isolation. As a consequence of historical and structural racism, exploitative economic models and the legacy of the trade in enslaved Africans, people of African descent have lived segregated, and decisions have been taken that have disproportionately exposed them to environmental hazards. In addition, generations of racism, economic divestment and targeting must be acknowledged and addressed. 57. In many parts of the world, policymakers, legislators and others subject people of African descent to discrimination, and provide insufficient respect for and protection of their human rights, including the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. This is manifest in the siting of landfills, toxic waste dispensaries, extractive industries, industrial and mining areas, factories and power plants and environmentally hazardous activities, and the lack of enforcement of environmental protection regulations in communities heavily populated by people of African descent, often resulting in high rates of asthma, cancer and other chronic environment-related illnesses, as well as less visible and long-term effects. 58. Environmental racism is present at both the national and international levels. At the national level, people of African descent have reduced access to information about environmental matters, to participation in environmental decision-making and to remedies for environmental harm. States authorizing hazardous facilities in communities that are predominantly composed of people of African descent disproportionately interfere with their rights, including their rights to life, health, food and water. Internationally, hazardous wastes continue to be exported to countries in the global South with lax environmental policies and safety practices. Transnational corporations develop lucrative endeavours that disregard or deny the impact on local 13