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At the Nexus of Human Rights and Climate Change: A Rights-Based Approach to Environmental Impacts and Policy Responses

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• Published: 16 November 2022

Climate change and human behaviour

Nature Human Behaviour volume  6 ,  pages 1441–1442 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Climate change is an immense challenge. Human behaviour is crucial in climate change mitigation, and in tackling the arising consequences. In this joint Focus issue between Nature Climate Change and Nature Human Behaviour , we take a closer look at the role of human behaviour in the climate crisis.

In the late 19th century, the scientist (and suffragette) Eunice Newton Foote published a paper suggesting that a build-up of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere could cause increased surface temperatures 1 . In the mid-20th century, the British engineer Guy Callendar was the first to concretize the link between carbon dioxide levels and global warming 2 . Now, a century and a half after Foote’s work, there is overwhelming scientific evidence that human behaviour is the main driver of climatic changes and global warming.

The negative effects of rising temperatures on the environment, biodiversity and human health are becoming increasingly noticeable. The years 2020 and 2016 were among the hottest since the record keeping of annual surface temperatures began in 1880 (ref. 3 ). Throughout 2022, the globe was plagued by record-breaking heatwaves. Even regions with a naturally warm climate, such as Pakistan or India, experienced some of their hottest days much earlier in the year — very probably a consequence of climate change 4 . According to the National Centers for Environmental Information of the United States, the surface global temperature during the decade leading up to 2020 was +0.82 °C (+1.48 °F) above the 20th-century average 5 . It is clear that we are facing a global crisis that requires urgent action.

During the Climate Change Conference (COP21) of the United Nations in Paris 2015, 196 parties adopted a legally binding treaty with the aim to limit global warming to ideally 1.5 °C and a maximum of 2 °C, compared to pre-industrial levels. A recent report issued by the UN suggests that we are very unlikely to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. Instead, current policies are likely to cause temperatures to increase up to 2.8 °C this century 6 . The report suggests that to get on track to 2 °C, new pledges would need to be four times higher — and seven times higher to get on track to 1.5 °C. This November, world leaders will meet for the 27th time to coordinate efforts in facing the climate crisis and mitigating the effects during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

This Focus issue

Human behaviour is not only one of the primary drivers of climate change but also is equally crucial for mitigating the impact of the Anthropocene. In 2022, this was also explicitly acknowledged in the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For the first time, the IPCC directly discussed behavioural, social and cultural dynamics in climate change mitigation 7 . This joint Focus highlights some of the aspects of the human factor that are central in the adaptation to and prevention of a warming climate, and the mitigation of negative consequences. It features original pieces, and also includes a curated collection of already published content from across journals in the Nature Portfolio.

Human behaviour is a neglected factor in climate science

In the light of the empirical evidence for the role of human behaviour in climatic changes, it is curious that the ‘human factor’ has not always received much attention in key research areas, such as climate modelling. For a long time, climate models to predict global warming and emissions did not account for it. This oversight meant that predictions made by these models have differed greatly in their projected rise in temperatures 8 , 9 .

Human behaviour is complex and multidimensional, making it difficult — but crucial — to account for it in climate models. In a Review , Brian Beckage and colleagues thus look at existing social climate models and make recommendations for how these models can better embed human behaviour in their forecasting.

The psychology of climate change

The complexity of humans is also reflected in their psychology. Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change, research suggests that many people underestimate the effects of it, are sceptical of it or deny its existence altogether. In a Review , Matthew Hornsey and Stephan Lewandowsky look at the psychological origins of such beliefs, as well as the roles of think tanks and political affiliation.

Psychologists are not only concerned with understanding and addressing climate scepticism but are also increasingly worried about mental health consequences. Two narrative Reviews address this topic. Neil Adger et al. discuss the direct and indirect pathways by which climate change affects well-being, and Fiona Charlson et al. adopt a clinical perspective in their piece. They review the literature on the clinical implications of climate change and provide practical suggestions for mental health practitioners.

Individual- and system-level behaviour change

To limit global warming to a minimum, system-level and individual-level behaviour change is necessary. Several pieces in this Focus discuss how such change can be facilitated.

Many interventions for individual behaviour change and for motivating environmental behaviour have been proposed. In a Review , Anne van Valkengoed and colleagues introduce a classification system that links different interventions to the determinants of individual environmental behaviour. Practitioners can use the system to design targeted interventions for behaviour change.

Ideally, interventions are scalable and result in system-level change. Scalability requires an understanding of public perceptions and behaviours, as Mirjam Jenny and Cornelia Betsch explain in a Comment . They draw on the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss crucial structures, such as data observatories, for the collection of reliable large-scale data.

Such knowledge is also key for designing robust climate policies. Three Comments in Nature Climate Change look at how insights from behavioural science can inform policy making in areas such as natural-disaster insurance markets , carbon taxing and the assignment of responsibility for supply chain emissions .

Time to act

To buck the trend of rising temperatures, immediate and significant climate action is needed.

Natural disasters have become more frequent and occur at ever-closer intervals. The changing climate is driving biodiversity loss, and affecting human physical and mental health. Unfortunately, the conversations about climate change mitigation are often dominated by Global North and ‘WEIRD’ (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) perspectives, neglecting the views of countries in the Global South. In a Correspondence , Charles Ogunbode reminds us that climate justice is social justice in the Global South and that, while being a minor contributor to emissions and global warming, this region has to bear many of the consequences.

The fight against climate change is a collective endeavour and requires large-scale solutions. Collective action, however, usually starts with individuals who raise awareness and drive change. In two Q&As, Nature Human Behaviour entered into conversation with people who recognized the power of individual behaviour and took action.

Licypriya Kangujam is a 10-year-old climate activist based in India. She tells us how she hopes to raise the voices of the children of the world in the fight against climate change and connect individuals who want to take action.

Wolfgang Knorr is a former academic who co-founded Faculty for a Future to help academics to transform their careers and address pressing societal issues. In a Q&A , he describes his motivations to leave academia and offers advice on how academics can create impact.

Mitigation of climate change (as well as adaptation to its existing effects) is not possible without human behaviour change, be it on the individual, collective or policy level. The contents of this Focus shed light on the complexities that human behaviour bears, but also point towards future directions. It is the duty of us all to turn this knowledge into action.

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Climate change and human rights: how a landmark legal victory in Europe could affect NZ

Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

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Vernon Rive does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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A seven-year campaign by a group of over 2,000 Swiss women – average age 73 – recently ended with a European Court of Human Rights decision variously described as a “ landmark ”, “ monumental ”, and “ the biggest victory possible ”.

Swiss Elders for Climate Protection – KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz – had challenged the Swiss government’s emissions reductions strategy as “wholly inadequate”. The court largely agreed. The decision has made waves in Europe. Might its ripples reach New Zealand’s shores?

A 2023 survey of global climate litigation counted over 2,300 cases, two thirds filed since 2015. Youth litigants have been especially active, including Sharma v Minister for the Environment in Australia, and Thomson v Minister for Climate Change in New Zealand.

Youth perspectives have resonance in climate cases, given the long-term implications of climate change and impacts of future emissions reductions policies. Cases such as the one taken by KlimaSeniorinnen take a different tack, pointing to the vulnerability of older people.

One applicant had been hospitalised after collapsing during a heatwave. She died during the court proceedings. Others had respiratory or cardiovascular problems exacerbated by rising temperatures. Their evidence aligns with New Zealand research on higher risks from climate change for older people.

Emissions policy on trial

The Swiss women argued, first in the Swiss domestic courts and then in the European Court of Human Rights, that their government’s failure to implement adequate emissions reductions meant it had breached various human rights obligations, including the rights to life, and private and family life , under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In a 260-page ruling, the court agreed that the right to private life had been breached. But it said it didn’t need to reach a conclusion on the right to life claim. Having declared Switzerland in breach of its ECHR obligations, the court left it to the government to comply with the convention.

Read more: Older Swiss women just set a global legal precedent for challenging their nation's climate change policy

Like New Zealand, Switzerland has made international commitments to emissions reductions under the Paris Climate Agreement. However, the Swiss government struggled to pass legislation reflecting the accepted target reductions.

A national referendum in 2021 rejected a proposed CO₂ Act intended to translate the country’s Paris commitments into domestic law. It was not until June 2023 that a second referendum affirmed a replacement Climate Act. But by the time the European Court of Human Rights issued its decision, the Swiss Climate Act had not yet come into force.

The independent Climate Action Tracker has called Switzerland’s strategy “insufficient”. So it was unsurprising the court declared it in breach of its human rights obligations. The decision has obvious ramifications for the Swiss Confederation and other Council of Europe members. But could it also have implications closer to home?

Implications for NZ courts

New Zealand is not bound by decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. But New Zealand courts regularly consider cases from overseas when determining claims.

Local activists, lawyers and judges will be poring over the judgement, which addresses a number of contested issues in existing and potential future cases in this jurisdiction.

First, New Zealand has ratified other international human rights instruments, including the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). New Zealand is also a party to the ICCPR’s Optional Protocol . This opens it up to compliance rulings by the UN Human Rights Committee, as occurred in the 2020 Teitoita v New Zealand climate-related case.

Read more: One of NZ’s most contentious climate cases is moving forward. And the world is watching

The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act imposes human rights obligations on public authorities. In a related claim to his climate case against Fonterra and others , Māori elder Mike Smith has sued the New Zealand government, claiming (among other things) that its inadequate emissions reductions framework breaches the rights to life and to practise culture under the Bill of Rights.

The case is currently at the Court of Appeal. If it goes to the Supreme Court or UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights decision in the KlimaSeniorinnen case could well feature prominently.

But KlimaSeniorinnen ‘s relevance is not limited to human rights claims. An important aspect of the European judgement was a meticulous analysis of the factual and scientific context for the women’s claim.

The court comprehensively assessed the latest climate science, endorsing the need for “deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”. That part of the decision offers something of a model for New Zealand courts in all sorts of climate cases.

Read more: Three secrets to successful climate litigation

Legal issues without borders

The case also addresses a perennial question in climate cases in New Zealand and elsewhere: what is the proper role and function of the courts in assessing government responses to climate change?

Arguments about judicial competence to review policy-laden regulatory responses were (and will be) central to these ongoing cases, including Lawyers for Climate Action v Climate Change Commission , now awaiting a decision by the New Zealand Court of Appeal.

In the KlimaSeniorinnen case, the European Court of Human Rights readily acknowledged limits to judicial involvement in climate policy. But it ruled “the Court’s competence in the context of climate change litigation cannot, as a matter of principle, be excluded”.

We can expect its thoughtful approach on this issue to be carefully considered in New Zealand cases.

The Swiss case was decided under a particular legal, constitutional and institutional setting, in many respects different to New Zealand’s. But there is much in the decision that could inform New Zealand judicial responses to common issues which – like greenhouse emissions themselves – know no national borders.

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• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• New Zealand stories
• Climate change law
• NZ Bill of Rights Act
• European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)

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Women should be included in decisions on the protection of human rights in the climate crisis, say researchers

by University of Rovira i Virgili

Eighty percent of climatic migrants are women and children. This figure means that a new international legal framework is required to protect human rights by adding gender-sensitive measures to policies and legislation. This is the claim made by Susana Borràs, a researcher from the University of Rovira's Department of Public Law in an article published in the journal Environmental Policy and Law , in which she discusses the complexities of perpetuating inequalities, vulnerabilities and the lack of protection of migrant women and children.

"Climate change is clear evidence that human rights are weakening, especially in areas that are already more exposed to the effects of climate change and less resilient because of the socio-economic context," says Borràs. "Multidimensional inequality and insecurity are present throughout the migration process and are particularly critical in the case of migrant women and girls," she adds.

The United Nations estimates that by 2050, the effects of climate change will have caused the displacement of 150 million people or more due to extreme weather and events such as the rise in sea level and desertification. Likewise, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that in the coming years, migration would be one of the responses to climate change, with millions of people being displaced by coastal flooding , coastal erosion , desertification processes and losses in agricultural production.

"People who leave the lands of their origin do so in highly complex contexts, in search of safety and well-being. They are exercising their human right to migrate with dignity to other safe territories, whether these are inside or outside their countries," Borràs explains.

In the third decade of the 21st century, humanity is still struggling with the vital issues of gender inequality, discrimination and violence faced by women and girls; almost half of the 8 billion inhabitants of the world. Despite the goals of international human rights and other regulatory instruments to bring about change, on the ground mental attitudes and harsh global realities still work against women and girls.

According to Borràs, "The impacts of climate change mean that women, and especially those from poorer communities, face a great psychological burden. Power structures lead to greater vulnerability to extreme weather events and climate change-related disasters. This structural vulnerability increases when women and girls become climate migrants."

In recent years, changes have been made to some sectors of international regulation to recognize climate change as a cause of migration, including from a gender-sensitive perspective. "Although positive, these changes have demonstrated the lack of an overall vision spanning the international legal regime of migration and refuge, climate change and human rights," she adds.

In conclusion, she points out that the existing legal frameworks must be rethought to respond to the reality of climate migration from a gender-sensitive perspective that effectively protects human rights . The heteropatriarchal power dynamics—which exclude women from decision-making processes—have prevented the gender perspective from becoming a part of policies and legal standards for environmental protection.

"It is essential to reverse the typical role of victim assigned to women and recognize that they can be leaders and agents of climate change and migratory contexts," she notes. In this regard, she calls for political responses to adapt the existing legal frameworks governing refugees and migration to the humanitarian challenges generated by climate change .

Provided by University of Rovira i Virgili

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Climate and environmental justice have left us better off. This Earth Day, let’s celebrate that success.

Subscribe to planet policy, manann donoghoe manann donoghoe senior research associate - brookings metro @manannanad.

April 22, 2024

When researchers, policymakers, and activists talk about climate, they are increasingly using terms such as “justice” and “equity.” These terms are now pervasive enough to appear in documents from groups as diverse as Extinction Rebellion , the United Nations , and Deloitte . But recent polling has found that relatively few Americans know what “climate justice” actually is.

With increasing claims of “greenwashing” directed at corporate America—and some state leaders fighting federal actions to advance climate justice—this Earth Day, it’s worth taking a closer look at climate and environmental justice (CEJ). When deployed in public policy and civic action, CEJ concepts can reveal the links between placed-based social injustices, climate impacts, and pollution, as well as offer pathways to inclusive and ultimately effective climate policy.

What is climate and environmental justice?

According to organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , climate and environmental justice is about ensuring that all people and communities are provided the support, resources, and opportunities they need to thrive under an unstable climate. It means that individuals—regardless of race, ethnicity, income, gender, age, sexuality, ability, or location—can share in the benefits and opportunities created by climate and environmental policies, such as community investment, green jobs, and access to renewable energy. It also means that the unequal burdens of climate impacts and pollutants are minimized.

CEJ is closely related to the environmental justice movement, which Robert D. Bullard and others founded in the late 1980s and early 1990s after documenting highly unequal distributions of toxic pollutants across racial groups in the U.S. South. It’s deeply connected to concepts such as environmental racism and sacrifice zones , which attempt to identify how harmful developments are unfairly concentrated in majority-Black and other historically marginalized communities. It is also associated with movements such as that for climate reparations , which combine climate justice with racial justice, reparations, and decolonization movements.

In the most basic sense, CEJ is about the equitable distribution of costs and benefits between demographic groups, regions, occupations, and sectors. But achieving that equitable distribution often requires addressing the lingering legacies of policies rooted in structural racism, such as residential segregation. This means asking questions such as: Which groups are included in decisionmaking processes that affect local land use? Who’s at the table when the plans for a new development are drawn up? How have historic policies shaped the flow of capital and resources across groups and regions? Who has a stake in the ownership of public assets like electricity utilities?

These are important questions to ask, because the current pattern of climate impacts and vulnerabilities within the U.S. is highly inequitable. That’s not a moral claim, but a statement of fact. A plethora of studies demonstrate that communities of color are more likely to be located in areas with a lack of green space and parklands, hotter heat waves , less affordable electricity , and lower rates of compensation after climate-related disasters. These disparities mean that as the impacts of climate change intensify, they’re likely to drive a wedge in health, wealth, and well-being between demographic groups, thus worsening the existing gaps in these areas.

Climate and environmental justice gains in 2023 are shaping policy

After decades of pressure by activists and civic organizations, Americans are seeing the benefits of CEJ. Below are just a handful of highlights from 2023 that demonstrate how government agencies and civic organizations have applied CEJ approaches to advance more effective and equitable climate and environmental policy, from the local to international level.

Human- and civil-rights-based arguments have gained traction in litigation

In 2023, coalitions of activists, citizens, and academics used human- and civil-rights-based arguments to win environmental protections for some states and communities. These successes set precedents that can inform future litigation strategies. In August, a coalition of young Montanans sued their state, arguing that it had contravened their constitution by favoring the fossil fuel sector over the health of residents and the environment. While the U.S. has the highest rate of climate litigation internationally, few of these cases make it to trial. This was the first time a U.S. court declared that laws barring state agencies from considering the links between climate change and fossil fuel projects were unconstitutional.

In another U.S. first, the UN declared that the DuPont and Chemours factories in Fayetteville, N.C. violated international human rights by knowingly polluting the lower Cape Fear River Basin for decades with the “forever chemical” PFAS . The declaration came after a local citizens group—Clean Cape Fear, with the assistance of the University of California, Berkeley Environmental Law Clinic— filed a complaint with the UN accusing the companies of withholding toxicity data that clearly demonstrated disparate impacts on residents.

In the past, litigators have not been able to successfully use rights-based arguments; for example, the EPA has been burdened under legal challenges when they’ve attempted to enforce civil rights . Yet the above successes demonstrate a growing momentum around linking environmental injustices to human and civil rights.

The Biden administration’s CEJ policies are taking effect

Justice and equity have been a pillar of the Biden administration’s approach to climate and environment policies. Over 2023, these policies started to take effect in tangible ways. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund , designed to enable low-income and historically marginalized communities to benefit from climate investments,  has mobilized $14 billion to establish national clean financing institutions that provide affordable financing for energy projects in marginalized communities; issued $6 billion for technical assistance hubs that build capacity in communities for more effective climate infrastructure projects; and solicited notices of intent for $7 billion in solar investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Moreover, the EPA set stronger standards for local air quality, including soot pollution and methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, which are likely to directly improve the health of residents living alongside high-emitting industrial facilities.

The administration has also taken steps to embed CEJ across functions of government by releasing the National Climate Resilience Framework and establishing a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and Environmental Justice Interagency Council .

Disaster relief got an overhaul

After years of research showing failures in the ways that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) distributes disaster relief (including our own research on the subject ), the agency made extensive changes to their processes.

Many of these changes are likely to directly make disaster relief more equitable. One of the most notable—increasing the flexibility of individual assistance—will get relief to people sooner, provide displacement assistance, and automatically provide $750 for basic needs. Other changes, such as expanding eligibility for assistance and simplifying the notoriously complicated individual assistance application process, will reduce the barriers to accessing relief and get funds to more families quicker.

Chicago launched a bold plan to advance environmental justice

Chicago’s EJ Action Plan Report , released in December 2023, is perhaps the most comprehensive city plan yet in attempting to remedy historic environmental injustices. The report details a plan to target resources toward newly designated “environmental justice neighborhoods” identified in the city’s Cumulative Impact Assessment . These neighborhoods—representing roughly 30% of census tracts across the city—rank high in cancer-causing pollutants and diesel emissions, are proximate to industrial facilities, and have demographic factors associated with vulnerability, such as high asthma and heart disease rates, low incomes, high housing stress, and a high proportion of non-white residents.

The action plan’s proposals are far-ranging and practical, including updating zoning regulations to offer greater protections to over-polluted and marginalized communities; placing air quality monitors in these neighborhoods to improve the enforcement of pollution standards; and creating a fund to invest in amenities that improve residents’ long-term health and well-being. The city’s next step will be to enshrine the action plan into city ordinances later this year. This is no small task, and Chicago’s progress may set a new standard for municipal environmental justice policies.

The international community has moved closer to phasing out fossil fuels

While many in the CEJ community were rightly disappointed at the outcomes of COP28—the largest global forum to negotiate national commitments to take climate action—the final agreement was the first to agree to “transition” away from fossil fuels. The U.S. also pledged to support “largely” phasing out fossil fuels, signaling the administration’s movement toward formally adopting this stance.

Committing to phase out fossil fuels in the U.S. would not only help to mitigate climate impacts, but it would also directly benefit those living amid the industry’s local pollutants. A 2022 study estimated that nearly 14 million Americans across 236 counties lived in areas with an increased cancer risk because of air pollution emitted by oil and gas extraction. And even more Americans live alongside refineries and other industrial processes that are further down the oil and gas supply chain.

The decision to include the phrase “transition away from fossil fuels” in the COP28 agreement comes after sustained pressure on the international community from civic organizations and nations facing pronounced or existential climate threats. One example is the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty —somewhat of a parallel to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty of 1970—which continues to gain influence. Several countries have agreed signed the treaty, including Colombia and Vanuatu, as have cities and subnational and civil society organizations. In the U.S., cities and states including California, Maine, and Austin, Texas have signed the treaty.

The CEJ movement has been focused on prevention—now it needs to shift toward building

In 2022, 71% of Americans said their community had experienced an extreme weather event. In this sense, climate impacts are an equalizer, with a unifying quality that crosses ideological, class, and racial divides. Yet current policy gaps and a history of unaddressed inequities mean that the threshold for a disaster is a lot lower for some households than others. These disparities turn climate change into a dividing force.

The actions and policies above show how CEJ can overcome these divisions by building new and more equitable policy structures. Pioneers of the CEJ movement developed its focus around prevention issues such as stopping high-polluting industrial developments in low-income neighborhoods. While prevention is still an important goal, the movement now needs to reorient toward building—creating new policies that embed justice and equity as measurable targets. This would include, for example, where and how governments distribute public funds to finance and build climate-resilient infrastructure.

By embracing this new approach, on future Earth Days the CEJ community might not only reflect on the environmental damage prevented, but also on the advancements made toward a more equitable future.

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Climate change poses dire health and human rights risks

Human health relies on healthy ecosystems, but these are under threat. securing the right to live in a healthy environment is crucial for all..

Climate change has not traditionally been seen as a health and human rights concern — but that may be changing following recent high-profile court cases. On April 9 the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a group of  elderly Swiss women  who claimed the government’s inadequate efforts to combat climate change put them at risk of dying during heatwaves.

And in India,  the Supreme Court on April 6 recognised  a right against the adverse effects of climate change as a distinct fundamental right in the Constitution.

In that judgement, one of the judges said the rights to life and equality couldn’t be fully realised without a clean, stable environment. The court also highlighted the connection between climate change and the right to health.

The World Health Organization has  declared  climate change to be the greatest threat to health that humanity faces.

Since climate change affects so many aspects of our lives, its effects on health and health care are complex, multiple, and highly variable across geographies,  ecozones  and development levels.

There are direct impacts on our bodies and communities, such as have emerged with extreme heat, droughts, floods, fires and other climate change-driven catastrophic events.

There also are more complex and indirect impacts, such as increasing food insecurity, the rising threat of infectious diseases, increased exposure to water and air pollutants, the health impacts of forced mobility and migration, and the mental health and social impacts of the climate crisis that affect us on our deepest levels.

Yet climate change has not traditionally been seen as a health and human rights concern — a reality which, arguably, needs to change.

In a report published last month in  The Lancet ,  ‘Under threat: The International AIDS Society- Lancet  Commission on Health and Human Rights’  we suggested several pathways through which climate change bears on the right to health.

A foundational principle of human rights is universality. We do not derive rights from citizenship or social standing, but from the fundamental basis of our shared humanity.

“ While many have fled conflict and war, many others are forced to leave their homelands due to climate-driven changes in rainfall, droughts, floods and fires — all increasing food insecurity and driving people to seek better futures.

Indeed, the founding document of the modern human rights movement is called  ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ , precisely because the rights it enshrines are held to be universal — shared by us all.

A terrible irony of the climate crisis however, is that the burdens of climate change are not shared equally by all.

Those who have done the least to impact the climate — the peoples of low- and middle-income countries, the rural poor and Indigenous communities — are by far the most affected.

This raises the issue of climate justice: what do the highly industrialised nations, which have so damaged the climate, owe to those whose health, livelihoods, and very survival are being impacted by the crisis?

Many of the worst-affected states, including the small island nations, have argued that  reparations are essential if they are to survive .

Indigenous peoples, particularly those still living on their traditional lands, are  literally fighting for their lives  against loggers, miners, ranchers, farming interests, the energy industries, and others who seek the bounty they have preserved for us all. Without protection for Indigenous rights, we may lose the world’s last great forests.

Earth has essentially three lungs; the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin, and what remains of the forests of Southeast Asia. Without these great generators of oxygen and capturers of carbon, Earth’s atmosphere would soon cease to be breathable for mammals, including humans. This makes Indigenous rights inextricably linked to all of our health and wellbeing.

Another major form of health inequity is increasing exposures to water and air pollutants, again most impacting those who have done the least to impact the climate. Premature deaths due to diseases caused by these chemical pollutants were estimated to top  nine million in 2015 .

Access to health care, even in the wealthiest societies, has also been affected by climate crises. The  multiple hurricanes which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017  led to widespread disruptions in health care facilities, and forced thousands of people on chronic medications, including antivirals for HIV, to have sustained treatment interruptions.

Hurricane Katrina  and its aftermath led to significant destruction of healthcare facilities in the US, primarily through flooding, and led to multiple deaths, including among elderly and disabled patients in long-term care facilities. 

Strikingly,  the death rate was almost 50 percent higher among Black residents of New Orleans than among Whites  — demonstrating that health inequities can be sharply worsened during catastrophic climate events. Same storm, yet significantly worse outcomes for minority communities.

The threat of infectious diseases is also rising, including in the Global North, as climate change shifts the best habitats for some species, bringing animals and humans closer together, and hence increasing the  risk of diseases spilling over from one to the other .

The climate crisis is also responsible, in part, for the enormous levels of population displacement, mobility, and migration we are now seeing.

There are an estimated  110 million  people—the largest number ever recorded — who are displaced either internally in their home countries, or outside their homelands.

While many have fled conflict and war, many others are forced to leave their homelands due to climate-driven changes in rainfall, droughts, floods and fires — all increasing food insecurity and driving people to seek better futures.

Providing even the most basic health care services, such as childhood immunisations, prenatal care, and adequate water and food is an enormous challenge and will likely only increase. And as we have seen in many countries, the rise in migration and displacement can have potent impacts on political culture — increasing nationalism, xenophobia, anti-immigrant policies, and racism.

How will humanity cope with these interrelated challenges? The human rights movement does have some compelling examples of success. Multiple cases,  including several brought by young students , have successfully argued for a new right: the right to live in a healthy environment. This is another universal right we all share by virtue of our human status.

It is essential to protect human health, and the health and wellbeing of all the living things with which we share the planet.

Realising any right is always a struggle, and the resistance is always immense.

But this is a right we really have no choice but to fight for. We cannot maintain human health without healthy ecosystems. And that requires we extend the right to live in a healthy environment to all of us now living, and for the generations to come.

Professor Chris Beyrer MD, MPH is the Gary Hock Distinguished Professor in Global Health and Director of the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University.

Originally published under  Creative Commons  by  360info ™.

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Related to this story

• Carbon & Climate
• Food & Agriculture
• Policy & Finance
• deforestation
• food security
• natural disasters
• human rights
• climate justice
• air pollution
• climate risk
• extreme weather
• global warming
• livelihoods
• Indigenous peoples
• 5. Gender equality
• 8. Economic growth
• 10. Inequality
• 13. Climate
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