Is there a well-established connection between human rights and environment? Can the chaos associated with climate change be averted if the human-rights associated loopholes are addressed and corrected?
Recently, a Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) in Europe has published the 3rd edition of its Manual on Human Rights and the Environment.
Loss of biodiversity, accelerated rate of climate change, wiping out of species, pollution and the consequent terrible degradation of Earth’s ecosystem has rendered a profound global impact on the gratification of human rights.
Humanity continues to suffer from the ill-faceted events in the history of ecological destruction, while hoping their better chances of survival when the planet has begun reciprocate in danger and will yield harder in the upcoming times.
These environmental offences do not only threaten existence of ecosystems along with the plant and animal species thriving within, but also impact human lives and livelihoods by ravaging their sources of shelter, income, food, by causing numerous diseases.
At times, this takes turn of greater exploitation by severe uprooting, anxieties, inflictions and untimely deaths of millions of people worldwide.
Is there a way to stop the impending environmental crisis?
COP26 successfully called the attention of world governments and companies to conserve and restore whatever has been left with us. But this requires aggressive attempts and prioritizing the following:
Jeopardize every other need to achieve 1.5 degrees C: reducing their own carbon footprint, trading in Carbon credits and offsets, reducing the value chain impact etc., can help in this regard.
Decarbonizing the value chain by private entities is crucial: It has been found that a huge portion of the emissions are because of their respective unsustainable supply chains.
Finance and Sustainability need collaboration: These two important sectors need integration in almost every sense, including the data, reports and statistics.
Give due place to Renewables: While the world is trying to phase out coal and other dirty fuels, there needs to be enough impetus to renewables to sink in. For this, there is a greater need that money starts flowing in the climate action and nature.
Equal responsibility, equal share?
A recent report has shed light on how differentiated this world is, in terms of Carbon footprint. Just like the inequality virus in earnings as per Oxfam report, the contribution to climate change is also different between the two sections.
Affluent people seem to have accrued greater carbon footprints and the percentage of the world’s greenhouse emissions because of their extravagant lifestyles, and what is troubling indeed is that it is growing considerably.
Approximately, 10% of wealthy households emitted 34% of global CO2 in 2010 whereas 50% of the global population in lower income strung accounted for a mere 15%. In next 5 years, the richest 10% became responsible for 49% of the world emissions while the poorest half got restricted to just 7% of emissions.
And experts are suggesting to cut ‘this required half’ by the wealthy as a fastest way to achieve Net zero: “It is much easier for richer consumers to absorb these increases in costs without changing their behavior”.
It is the overconsumption of 1% that is driving the climate crisis.
“In many ways, the rich are being largely insulated from the spike in energy costs. But addressing excessive personal consumption is something that isn’t on the agenda for the government and policymakers. This is bad news for the planet and our prospects of reaching net zero”, explains the Author of the study.
But be it in case of people or Nations, the affluent have always managed to insulate themselves from the impacts of climate change where the population with lower income continues to battle the worst.
“Price mechanisms may force low-income households to cut back consumption to dangerous levels. Moreover, high consumption and large carbon footprints are spatially concentrated in high-income cities and suburbs – while their negative effects, such as air pollution, typically spill over into less affluent areas.”
The big Indian festival of election is here but this subject of disparity, pain and great losses, has stayed out of anyone’s concern even in a country like India which lies vulnerable to this threat.
Looking deep into the scenario, the onus is on the leadership of various countries to make policies conducive to inclusion and sustainability so that no life is left behind to suffer.