Climate Justice and Human Rights - FDP

The climate justice and human rights movements have been on separate paths. Both have made considerable progress in the past decades, however the two must come together, to bring a change in environment movement. The seminar focused on highlighting the relationship between Climate Justice and Human Rights. Climate change undermines the realization of various human rights. Eg: right to safe drinking water, right to food, right to livelihood etc. Disasters like droughts, and floods are adversely affecting food production and availability of safe drinking water in various regions of the world. Climate Justice argues that the cost of adaptation and mitigation measures shall be distributed fairly and equitably, keeping in the mind the respective capacities and historical responsibilities. Human Rights and Climate Justice share an intrinsic relation with each other. Where there is violation of a right only then the question of justice arises.

Climate Chage affects the full realization and enjoyment of the Human Rights, and this is where Climate Justice comes into picture. Climate justice evolves a human rights-based approach to the problem of climate change. The relationship between human rights and climate change is two-fold. One the one hand, the consequences of climate change have adverse effects on the enjoyment of human rights. On the other hand, climate policies can lead to rights infringements of local communities, in particular indigenous peoples. The urgency of addressing the climate crisis is clear, and avenues to accelerate needed transformation in our economy are expanding, including through legal mechanisms like mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence.