HUMAN RIGHTS
PERSPECTIVE ON
CLIMATE CHANGE
O
ver the last few years the traumatic effects of climate
change have been felt widely throughout the world. We
have been witnessing the increasing a number of natural
disasters such as floods, drought, increasing of sea level,
heat waves, storms, forest fires, salination of agricultural lands in
coastal areas, changing and erratic weather patterns and many more
which are all linked to global warming. Climate change has always
been a part of the history of our Mother Earth. However, the recent
changes are induced by human activities. The United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) confirms it through its
report in 2007, expressing the scientific evidence that the recent
change of climate is related to the increasing of CO2 emissions which
generally is called greenhouse gases.
These threats affect in particular vulnerable people who have a strong
and direct link to nature such as peasants, small scale farmers, indigenous peoples, women and children. Unfortunately many of them live
in countries which are less prepared to respond to the adverse impact
of climate change. The UN has estimated that 262 million people
were affected by climate disasters annually between 2004 and 2004.
Almost all of them (98 %) live in the developing countries. Tropical
cycle hazards have affected around 120 million people every year with
an estimated 250.000 people lost their lives from 1980 to 2000. It is
very unfortunate that the impact of climate change is not distributed
evenly.
The poorer regions and countries, which contribute less to the greenhouse gases emissions, suffer more than the modern and industrialized
countries which are historically responsible for the CO2 emissions,
especially through the invention of modern industry where the use of
oil, gas and other minerals increased exponentially. It is also exacerbated by the increasing consumerism, not only in the developing countries but throughout the planet.
It is indeed important to engage the international communities, including students and youth, to raise awareness on the
adverse impact of climate change. The young people are
better positioned to question the current development pattern
which continuously ignores the negative impact on environment.
The development discourse has been focusing on economic
growth and increase of production of goods, at the cost of
the depletion of natural resources. It is the responsibility of
our generation to challenge this model of development. In
equal manner, the young people should also reflect whether
their way of living, which is very much influenced by consumerism, is sustainable and doing justice for others.
On the occasion of its 90th Anniversary, the International
Movement of Ca