Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Human Rights

This chapter addresses the dynamic balance between human health and the environment, with a focus on the global health and human rights threat of climate change. International legal efforts to mitigate environmental damage and climate change—from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the 2015 Paris Agreement—have been limited in addressing the threats posed to global health. Human rights will be necessary to examine efforts to mitigate and respond to these cataclysmic threats, including rising temperatures and extreme weather events, air pollution, infectious diseases, food, water and sanitation, and mental health. Facing this unprecedented threat, advocates can draw from past advances, including the use of litigation to protect human rights affected by the environment, the realization of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and the implementation of human rights as a foundation of planetary health.

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s.Four New Challenges, 19 The Environment, a Changing Climate, and Planetary Health

Foundations of Global Health & Human Rights ◽

10.1093/law/9780197528297.003.0020 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Phelan Alexandra L

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Human Rights ◽

Global Health ◽

Dynamic Balance ◽

Scientific Progress ◽

Environmental Damage ◽

Health And Human Rights ◽

Planetary Health ◽

Weather Events ◽

The Right

This chapter addresses the dynamic balance between human health and the environment, with a focus on the global health and human rights threat of climate change. International legal efforts to mitigate environmental damage and climate change—from the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the 2015 Paris Agreement—have been limited in addressing the threats posed to global health. Human rights will be necessary to examine efforts to mitigate and respond to these cataclysmic threats, including rising temperatures and extreme weather events, air pollution, infectious diseases, food, water and sanitation, and mental health. Facing this unprecedented threat, advocates can draw from past advances, including the use of litigation to protect human rights affected by the environment, the realization of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, and the implementation of human rights as a foundation of planetary health.

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The Impact and Response to Climate Change as Lived by Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2253 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 590-590

Author(s):

Robin Fenley ◽

Toni Antonucci ◽

Robin Fenley

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Older Adults ◽

Human Rights ◽

Older Persons ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Health And Human Rights ◽

The Public ◽

Aging Populations ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Impact

Abstract A growing body of literature documents the domino effects of climate change on the planet and all life. Chief among these changes is the rise in global temperatures, triggering record numbers of heatwaves, and stronger, more dangerous hydrologic events. While climate change looms as a preeminent threat to our planet and future, the public health and human rights ramifications are already apparent. As with many issues in this realm, the effects are felt to a greater degree by our aging populations. As disasters grow in frequency, the more vulnerable populations are at greater risk for more serious outcomes – and will suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change – resulting in greater inequalities. With the consequences of climate change growing more drastic, these outcomes can be expected to climb unless sufficient measures are enacted to combat global warming. In this symposium we will highlight the link between climate change and its impact on the human rights of older adults, and how climate change threatens progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) - a blueprint for a more equitable and healthier planet - if decisive actions are not taken. This symposium will demonstrate what valuable opportunities exist to accelerate progress by leveraging the links between SDGs to combat inequalities and climate change. Panelists will discuss the adverse effects of climate change, the human rights and psychological impacts on older adults, and potential action steps and strategies for older persons to become empowered as advocates for climate change reform.

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