On 1 June the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment published a special issue, featuring a collection of international policy experts’ interviews and reflections that address the question of how we should respond to climate change?
On 1 June the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment published its second issue, featuring a collection of international policy experts’ interviews and reflections that address “the most compelling question of our age: How should we now respond to climate change?“
The Editors Anna Grear , Founder and Director of the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment and Professor of Law at the Universities of Cardiff and Waikato, and Conor Gearty, Professor of Human Rights Law in the London School of Economics, write in their editorial:
“The need to act, and to act now, is made abundantly clear in this collection. The key thinkers and policy experts represented here make a compelling case that the human dimensions of climate change are now pivotal for any meaningful response to the crisis facing the planet. Each author, without exception, albeit in different ways, underlines the centrality of the social and legal aspects of climate change to any choice between planetary future.”
In an interview for the publication, Mary Robinson said:
“We need a legally binding climate agreement in 2015 first and foremost because justice requires accountability. Without a binding agreement, commitments are voluntary and subject to changes in local political priorities. For businesses and business investors, a legally binding agreement sends the strongest possible signal that carbon is constrained and that the future lies in low carbon development. And, most importantly of all, for vulnerable communities, a legally binding agreement is the best guarantee that their rights will be protected.”
The volume includes contributions by John H Knox, Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment (Climate Ethics and Human Rights), and Henry Shue, Senior Research Fellow at Merton College and Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford (Changing Images of Climate Change: human rights and future generations).
Journal of Human Rights and the Environment – Volume 5/ Issue 2
Related links:
What is a climate justice narrative? Explained by Henry Shue
Interview with Connie Hedegaard, European Union Commissioner for Climate Action
Conor Gearty: Social and legal aspects of climate change
Climate Change is an Issue of Human Rights – Statement by Mary Robinson on Report of WGII of IPCC
Mary Robinson writes about climate change as an issue of human rights and justice