On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that human rights encompasses a right to effective protection by the State authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health and well-being.
Human rights and climate change is a conceptual and legal framework under which international human rights and their relationship to global warming are studied, analyzed, and addressed.[1] The framework has been employed by governments, United Nations organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, human rights and environmental advocates, and academics to guide national and international policy on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the core international human rights instruments.[2][3][4] In 2022 Working Group II of the IPCC suggested that "climate justice comprises justice that links development and human rights to achieve a rights-based approach to addressing climate change".[5]
Human rights and climate change analysis focuses on the anticipated consequences to humans associated with global environmental phenomena including sea level rise, desertification, temperature increases, extreme weather events, and changes in precipitation, as well as adaptation and mitigation measures taken by governments in response to those phenomena that may involve human rights or related legal protections. Many legal approaches to climate change use the right to a healthy environment, other related rights or other emergent environmental law approaches, such as rights of nature, to advocate for new or required action by governments and private actors, through climate justice advocacy and climate litigation.
On 8 October 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution that recognizes a human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment – resolution 48/13.[6][7]
^Stephen Humphreys, ed. (2010). Human rights and climate change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-76998-6. OCLC 652432164.
^"New UN Report Details Link between Climate Change and Human Rights". UN Environment. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
^"Report of the Human Rights Council on its thirty-first session. Advance unedited version". Human Rights Council. 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2022-08-17.
^Rajamani, Lavanya (2019-06-26). "Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Climate Architecture: Contest, Context, and Consequence". Climate Law. 9 (3): 180–201. doi:10.1163/18786561-00903003. ISSN 1878-6553. S2CID 199289341.
includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Fossil...
justice. Climate justice examines concepts such as equality, humanrights, collective rights, and the historical responsibilities for climatechange. This...
information about climate impacts), or humanrights (claiming that failure to act on climatechange is a failure to protect humanrights). Since the early...
effects on health, the economy, andhumanrights. The Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange's (IPCC) Fourth National Climate Assessment Report found that...
Climatechange effects on tropical regions includes changes in marine ecosystems, human livelihoods, biodiversity, degradation of tropical rainforests...
Nations ClimateChange Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, more commonly known as COP29, will be the 29th United Nations ClimateChange conference...
Climatechange ethics is a field of study that explores the moral aspects of climatechange. Climatechange is often studied and addressed by scientists...
scientific and technological advances, andhuman actions to measure, predict, mitigate, and adapt to the effects of global warming andclimatechange—during...
internationally and promised an additional $50 billion by 2030. The choice of the UAE as host country was criticized by climate scientists andhumanrights advocates...
Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climatechange that was adopted in 2015. The treaty covers climatechange mitigation, adaptation, and finance...
ClimateChangeand Indigenous Peoples describes how climatechange disproportionately impacts Indigenous peoples around the world when compared to non-Indigenous...
Climatechange in Pakistan is a major issue for the country. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climatechange. As with the changingclimate in South Asia...
Effects of climatechange are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment andhuman societies. Changes to the climate system include an...
mitigate the impacts of climatechange. The HumanRights Measurement Initiative finds that the climate crisis has worsened humanrights conditions moderately...
Convention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons...
of humanrights globally, including adequate financing from those who can best afford it. This requires climatechange mitigation, adaptation, and rectification...
Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climatechange caused...
mitigate the impacts of climatechange. The HumanRights Measurement Initiative finds that the climate crisis has worsened humanrights conditions moderately...
history of climatechange policy and politics refers to the continuing history of political actions, policies, trends, controversies and activist efforts...
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climatechange, andclimatechange affects the health of forests. Land use change, especially in the form of deforestation...
investigating the causes of climatechange for decades. After thousands of studies, it came to a consensus, where it is "unequivocal that human influence has warmed...
"Sea-level rise and climatic change threaten the existence of atoll nations". The HumanRights Measurement Initiative finds that the climate crisis has worsened...
empowerment, humanrightsandclimatechange), and co-chair of the Socially and Economically Just Adaptation and Mitigation Team of the U.S. Climate Action...
and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Climatechange communication research shows that coverage has grown and become...
"All victims of humanrights abuses should be able to look to the HumanRights Council as a forum and a springboard for action." — Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General...
core of the international approach to humanrightsandclimatechange. The effects of climatechange on humanrights are presented by OHCHR in a fact sheet...
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