With the COP25 Climate Conference finalizing on December 13th and now entering into an extension without stable, significant pacts from countries representatives, the HRI for peace and freedom wishes to state the importance of fighting against clime change as well as the direct and indirect consequences it already has and will gradually have over human rights through time, around the world. 

When analyzing the relationship of both, climate change and human rights, we must have a preventive approach and anticipate to what possible future scenarios of global environmental phenomena can affect and up to what degree, fundamental rights. 

Temperature increases provoke extreme weather events such as rising sea levels, desertification, droughts and heat waves, changes in precipitation patterns, stronger hurricanes, flooding, wildfires and many more. All of these are currently affecting many regions of the world and vast amounts of reports state that all will gradually worsen throughout time. 

The evolution of environmental law started to compaginate with human rights within the last 15 years, especially with the Paris Agreement adopted on December 12th, 2015, in which it was stated:

“Acknowledging that climate change is a common concern of humankind, Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity”

Institutions at national and international scales have the obligation to strengthen policy-making within the area of climate change. Besides from being an ecological issue, the consequent impacts will affect fundamental rights of societies around the world. 

Currently we are visualizing the right to life, food, water and health being affected by climate change. In the years to come, forced migration will ascend to 200 million by 2050 as stated in a report conducted by the United Nations Development Program, even though different reports state worse scenarios. 

From behalf of the HRI for peace and freedom we desire to communicate the importance climate change has over fundamental rights around the world. If these rights are affected, there will be no authoritarian regime or dictator to blame if all of us don’t take action; collaboration of States regardless their respective agendas will be fundamental to achieve the necessary goals in order for the climate situation not to worsen, but most importantly, the collaboration of every citizen in every country will be crucial for governments to properly act.