An uncomfortable truth about climate change is that it’s contributing to a global human rights crisis, leaving those who are the least responsible for this disaster the most affected.
The leading global emitters of fossil fuels today are China, the United States, and India, accounting for 42.6 per cent of global emissions. However, developing countries bear the brunt of climate change impacts. According to the UNDP, from 2010 to 2020, human mortality from floods, droughts, and storms was 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions compared to regions with very low vulnerability.
And that’s just the tip of the melting iceberg. As various governmental projects threaten to further undermine the environment, the future of human rights for the world’s most vulnerable people and communities hangs over a precipice.
Rosebank Oil Field
In 2023, the UK Government approved the development of Rosebank oilfield. According to Stop Cambo, this could result in more climate pollution than the ‘combined annual CO2 emissions of all 28 low-income countries.’
James Mowatt works with Uplift to organise the resistance campaign against this development. He tells me that his initial reaction when hearing of the plans for Rosebank oilfield in 2022 was one of disappointment, and he sees profit as the main driving factor:
‘In my opinion, principally, it is the profit-motive, and the power and influence of the companies involved (especially Equinor) amongst policymakers. There are also tangential factors such as what I perceive to be reduced public pressure and interest around oil and gas development in the UK, and around the perceived need to develop energy sources in light of geopolitical tensions in Russia and the Middle East.
‘The development of the Rosebank oilfield has the potential to contribute to global warming as well as regional pollution and ecological damage from drilling and leaks.’
Mowatt explains that it’s reasonable to conclude that Rosebank oilfield could impact the human rights of citizens; citing amongst these the right to peaceful enjoyment of property and the right to liberty and security. In terms of Rosebank’s impact on global warming, he tells me that this development could, depending on how events unfold, impact the rights of people around the world. This includes their right to life, right to build a family and their educational rights.
The UK Supreme Court ruled on June 20th that emissions from burning oil and gas must be taken into account when approving oil and gas projects, strengthening Stop Cambo’s legal case against the Rosebank development. The ruling comes from judgment in a case against an oil drilling project in Surrey. The case was brought before the courts by Sarah Finch, a local campaigner, on behalf of Weald Action Group, supported by Friends of the Earth.
‘Change begins with all of us.’
Minister Malcolm Noonan
Carlow-Kilkenny T.D. Malcolm Noonan, who is Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform, describes the climate crisis as ‘the human rights issue of our time.’ Adding that:
‘In developing world countries — India, North Africa, Central and South America — they contributed the least to this crisis. Coastal countries are particularly vulnerable, as they disproportionately feel the effects of climate change and have the least resources to mitigate or to adapt their lifestyles to a very changed world.’
I wanted to know whether Minister Noonan felt that the Irish Government and the governments of the world take into consideration the impact of their decisions on human rights. He told me about the Loss and Damage Fund agreed on at COP28. This aimed to put together a funding mechanism to ensure the protection of communities that will be forced to adapt to our changing climate. This fund was first proposed in 1991 by Vanuatu on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States but was only agreed upon at the last COP summit. In the intervening three decades since that proposal, an estimated 189 million people in developing countries have been annually impacted by extreme weather.
Minister Noonan tells me that there is certainly an awareness that we, as developed countries, have contributed to this crisis and that responsibility lies with us. However, despite this generally accepted fact, he doesn’t believe we are doing nearly enough to address the issue:
‘We haven’t changed our lifestyles in the West. From a human rights perspective, I do think the global community has failed abjectly to take the seriousness of this on board. Change begins with all of us.’
The Right to Education
Article 26 of the UNDHR states that everyone has the right to education. But this critical right is threatened by climate change. Minister Noonan shared with me his fears for future generations, particularly for his own children.
While many of us share those fears, it is imperative to be aware that for many people across the world, the reality is that they and their children are already being adversely affected by climate change. When it comes to young people the impact of climate change is becoming increasingly clear. In recent months, schools across South Sudan, Bangladesh and the Philippines have all been forced to close their doors.
In South Sudan, 2.2 million students were sent home when temperatures reached 45 degrees Celsius in late March. Thousands of schools in the Philippines and India were forced to follow suit in April. In 2022, Malawi’s government shortened school days in the southern Shire Valley due to rising temperatures. Meanwhile, in Uganda, severe flooding has repeatedly forced governments to close schools, cutting children off from vital education.
These heat-induced school closures have become more and more common in recent years. Save The Children’s Bangladesh director Shumon Sengupta explained that in 2023, schools around the country were closed for six to seven days at a time. This year, it looks likely that schools could be closed for as long as three to four weeks. As we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged school closures negatively impact children and their right to education. While those in private schooling are more likely to have access to air conditioning, those in public schools often find that they are falling behind. When children are out of school, they run a higher risk of succumbing to child labour practices and being forced into child marriages. In Bangladesh, Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury has said that schools will be opened on weekends if necessary to ensure students finish their curriculum.
In light of these closures and the thousands of children affected by climate change in a myriad of ways, we must avoid being indifferent and question those in power and their priorities. Statistics from the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs show that 200,000 children could attend school for a year, at the price of one stealth fighter aircraft. The decision by powerful countries to pursue military action comes at a great cost to the environment and compounds the net environmental and social harm caused. The Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) reported in 2022 that global militaries account for 5.5 per cent of all carbon emissions. If they were a country, this would place them in fourth place globally between India and Russia.
‘Fear is the biggest threat to democracy and to pursuing climate action.’
Councillor Maria Dollard
I had the opportunity to interview local Green Party councillor for Kilkenny County Council, Maria Dollard. She tells me that the climate crisis is absolutely a human rights crisis, and points out that it is also a gender issue:
‘In poorer countries, it is often women who have the responsibility for looking after families, doing a lot of the agricultural work and getting water. When climate change happens, when it impacts communities unable to respond quickly, the women suffer more, and they have less power.
‘We can’t continue to pretend that we will be fine. We can’t stand back from our responsibilities to say that the way we live our lives is [only] partly responsible for the way other people have been catastrophically impacted.’
But what can we do?
Councillor Dollard explains that on a grassroots level, that’s where changes are happening. ‘People at that level understand that it’s a human rights issue.’ She tells me that she’d hate to be in the percentage of people who think we are too late to do anything to combat climate change:
‘If we go down that road, it’s definitely too late to do anything. Fear is the biggest threat to democracy and to pursuing climate action. There are bad actors who want us to be afraid of everything, want us to fear what’s coming down the track, to believe nothing can be done. That isn’t true.
‘I say to my mother, who is 82, “You’re the greenest person I know.” She doesn’t waste anything. She repairs things, she doesn’t buy an awful lot of stuff. She buys stuff, but she doesn’t buy an awful lot of stuff. She grows food for herself. They’re quite simple things, and it’s just a generation away since we did more of that stuff. Nobody is suggesting we go backwards in our development. There are huge opportunities in going forward, to have a happier life, a more fulfilled life.’
And So …
My final question for James Mowatt was whether he had any message for Rishi Sunak’s government. Despite the recent change in leadership, I believe his answer remains pertinent:
‘I would ask him to think seriously about the future of his children, and how he thinks his actions around energy and climate change will impact how they remember him, how their children remember him, and how history describes him.’
As of last September, the Labour Party’s position was that while they opposed the approval of Rosebank, they would respect the existing licenses that have been granted.
For this report, I have had the privilege of speaking with many incredible people who are all doing their utmost to protect our planet and defend basic human rights. Maria Dollard showed me the power of local communities and the change we can effect through them. Malcolm Noonan offered an insight into the world of politics and all the work being done there. James Mowatt campaigns on behalf of us all.
The climate crisis is undoubtedly a human rights crisis. If you care about the one you must care about the other, because they are not mutually exclusive issues.
I firmly believe that we still have time to make a difference. We can halt some of the damage caused. But this requires a group effort. A commitment from individuals, governments and big corporations to all work together towards the same goal: helping each other thrive.
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