Climate crisis
The impact of the climate crisis is threatening the right to food, the UN human rights chief alerted on Monday (Jul. 3rd).
828 million people faced hunger in 2021. And the crisis is projected to place up to 80 million more at risk by the middle of this century," Volker Türk said during the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council.
"Our topic this morning is the right to food, and clearly this is comprehensively threatened by climate change. Extreme weather events, and both sudden and gradual disasters caused by climate change, wipe out crops, herds, fisheries and entire ecosystems. Their repetition makes it impossible for communities to rebuild and support themselves."
In 2015, world leaders committed among other things to strengthening the global response to the threat of climate crisis.
However, financial pledges by developed nations have not been kept. In the fight to mitigate the consequences of the crisis, small polluters which are least developed nations, suffer an additional penalty.
"Often, these are countries that benefited little from industrial development, and contributed next to nothing to the industrial processes which are killing our environment and violating rights. If this is not a human rights issue, what is?"
Speaking in Geneva, Volker Türk called for an end to subsidies to the fossil fuel industry to deliver a liveable future to the next generations.
He added among other conditions making the upcoming "COP28 the decisive game-changer that [we] so badly need". If a 7-point plan he presented during his address was fulfilled, he believed "a just transition to a green economy – nationally, and globally' –" could then "take place."
01:25
CAR: Conference aims to achieve peaceful seasonal migration of herds
02:15
Zambian teen teaches climate change lessons through sign language
01:57
Heat related deaths on the rise in Europe
01:21
Civil society actors want greater role in global governance
Go to video
Global weather crisis: From Brazil to Houston and Asia, extreme weather grips the Globe
01:44
April 2024 breaks global heat records, Morocco prepares for scorching heatwave