Here are five significant developments in environmental news over the past month, as tracked by Sustainable Gabriolan Deb Ferens and presented at October’s SG meeting.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Avaaz has partnered with some of the best international lawyers to file a powerful submission on climate change with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
It explains how climate anxiety is violating children’s rights, and how Indigenous communities must be front and centre in the biggest environmental challenge of our time.
West Coast Environmental Law plans to take on fossil fuel companies for their role in climate change
West Coast Environmental Law launched a campaign called “Sue Big Oil” on Wednesday ,asking people to sign a declaration encouraging municipalities to offer up $1 per resident to go toward a class action lawsuit against fossil fuel companies. Article link: cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sue-big-oil-campaign-lawsuit-dossil-fuel-companies-1.6489799
Sign the Declaration: https://suebigoil.ca/
The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World by David R. Boyd
A growing body of law around the world supports the idea that humans are not the only species with rights; and if nature has rights, then humans have responsibilities. LINK: amazon.ca/Rights-Nature-Legal-Revolution-Could/dp/1770412395
The window is closing’: Cop28 must deliver change of course on climate
UN COP 28 taking place Nov 30 to Dec 12, 2023 in Dubai, hosted by United Arab Emirates – a leading oil and gas producer and presiding over the summit – Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of the country’s national oil company. This year will mark a significant milestone: the first assessment since 2015 of how countries are faring against the emissions-cutting commitments they made at Paris, a process known as the “global stocktake”.
LINK: theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/02/window-closing-cop28-change-course-climate-dubai
Scientists urge WHO to declare health emergency for planet
The report published by more than 200 health journals urged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare the climate and nature crisis a singular crisis to be tackled together to avoid catastrophe. The team of authors outlined the dire impacts linked to rising temperatures, extreme weather events and the loss of wildlife.
The world’s health-related environmental challenges are now severe, the group wrote, from the spread of infectious diseases, to the rise of waterborne infections, to the health impacts of air pollution. Changes in land use, for instance, have forced “tens of thousands of species into closer contact,” increasing the exchange of pathogens and fuelling the emergence of new diseases.
“The climate crisis and loss of biodiversity both damage human health, and they are interlinked,” said lead author Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of the British Medical Journal, in a statement. LINK: dhakatribune.com/world/329120/scientists-urge-who-to-declare-health-emergency