Category: Current Affairs

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Children Displaced Due to Climate Change: UNICEF UK Call for Action From UK Government

brown wooden bench on mountainside at daytime

4 August 2021 – by Evelyn Workman

A report, Futures at Risk: Protecting the Rights of Children on the Move in a Changing Climate, released by the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), analyses how climate-change related migration impacts children’s access to education and health care. There were 30.1 million new internal displacements caused by extreme weather related events in 2020, 9.8 million of these were of children. The report notes that this equates to 26,900 new weather related child displacements every day. 

Ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), taking place in Glasgow in November, UNICEF UK has called on the UK government to support children who have been forced to leave their homes due to climate change. In the report, they propose the government establish a technical facility, to be launched at COP26, bringing together experts across health, education, migration, and climate sectors to share knowledge and propose solutions to tackle this problem.

The report provides several recommendations for the UK government to better support and protect children displaced by climate-change related events. These include using the UK’s role as an international donor to champion the rights of children affected by climate change-related displacement, and meeting its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and encouraging other high-income countries to make a similar pledge at COP26.

“The UK Government must use the opportunity of its COP26 Presidency this year to champion the rights of children on the move, galvanising widespread and ambitious action to address the challenges we know are coming,” Joanna Rea, Director of Advocacy at UNICEF UK, said, “If not, the futures of millions of children will be at risk.”

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Australian Court Ruled the Government Has ‘Duty of Care’ to Protect Young People From Climate Crisis

aerial view of rock cliffs under cloudy sky

3 August 2021 – by Evelyn Workman

In June 2021, the Australian Federal Court has ruled that the environment minister Sussan Ley has a duty of care to protect young people from the impacts of climate change. A group of young Australians had sought an injunction to prevent Ley from approving a possible Whitehaven coal mine extension project in the state of New South Wales. The young people argued that the minister had a common duty of care to protect young people from the harm caused by climate change, and that approval of the project would breach this by endangering their future.

Judge Mordecai Bromberg ruled that Ley owes a duty of care to Australia’s young people not to cause them physical harm from future climate change. However, he did not grant the injunction because he had “not been satisfied that a reasonable apprehension of breach of the duty of care by the minister has been established”. This means that Ley does not have to prohibit the coal mine extension project, however, her responsibility to young people has now been formally recognised in court.

The court heard the expansion of the mine could lead to an extra 100m tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere, which will only contribute towards an accelerated rate of global warming. The court was also presented with scientific evidence from bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Bureau of Meteorology highlighting the potential harm Australian children could face in the future due to climate change. One million of today’s children in Australia are expected to suffer a heat-stress episode requiring hospitalisation within their lifetimes, substantial economic losses will be experienced, and the Great Barrier Reef and most of Australia’s eastern eucalypt forests will not exist when today’s children grow up. 

The group of young people who brought the case to court was led by 16-year-old Melbourne student Anj Sharma and supported by Sister Brigid Arthur, an 86-year-old nun who was appointed to be their litigation guardian. One member of the group, 17-year-old Ava Princi said, “I am thrilled because this is a landmark decision. My future and the future of all young people depends on Australia stepping away from fossil fuel projects and joining the world in taking decisive climate action.” Even though the injunction was not granted, Princi said, “it is not over yet”.

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EPA Delivers on Biden’s Promise of Environmental Justice

tree trunk

26 July 2021 – by Ben St. Laurent

Less than a month after his inauguration President Biden signed an executive order — “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” which strengthened the inter-agency integration on climate and environmental policy. A key component of this ‘whole of government’ approach to climate change was to address disproportionate environmental impacts to economically disadvantaged and minority communities. On June 25th the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the allocation of $50 million under the American Rescue Plan to fund environmental justice initiatives, fulfilling President Biden’s commitment to address the racial and socio-economic disparities of environmental hazards. 

Alongside The EPA’s $50 million grant for environmental justice, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan announced $200,000 in federal grant funding for a job training initiative in Baltimore, Maryland which prepares young adults for jobs in the water treatment industry. The recipient, YH2O, is a city-sponsored initiative that combines aspects of economic, environmental, and social development and could provide a rubric for environmental justice initiatives in other underserved communities. According to the EPA, 13 other environmental justice projects around the country have been awarded a combined $2.8 million in grants, and nearly $14 million has been allocated for future projects. The EPA has also set aside just over $5 million to “expand civil and criminal enforcement” of air and drinking water pollution near low-income communities. 

Cities like Flint, Michigan with high levels of poverty and pollution stand to benefit from such programs. In 2014, insufficient oversight and monitoring led to at least a dozen deaths and thousands of cases of serious health problems after the city’s drinking supply was severely contaminated with lead and bacteria. Due to weak law enforcement and legal recourse, residents of Flint who struggled for years to gain access to safe drinking water, are still fighting for justice. Increased public understanding and environmental literacy combined with stronger legal enforcement of monitoring standards, which the EPA is now funding, could prevent similar disasters from occurring. The EPA’s announcement of funding for environmental justice initiatives, and the apparent scope of its impact, should raise the bar for environmental protection and social development of historically underserved communities across the country.

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Violence Against Women and Girls in the Aftermath of Climate Disasters

gray concrete road between brown trees under blue sky during daytime

15 July 2021 – by Atoosa Gitiforoz

Post disaster violence against women and girls (VAWG) increases due to the exacerbation of pre-existing gender inequalities, failures of law enforcement and exposure to high-risk environments. 

Gender-sensitive risk reduction policies and the inclusion of women in disaster management are crucial measures in reducing post disaster VAWG and in treating health consequences of climate disasters that primarily impact women. 

‘Women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of disaster-related impacts’. Mortality rates are higher for women than men – in the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, 90% of deaths were women. The exacerbation of VAWG includes intimate partner violence, sexual violence, female genital mutilation, honour killings and human trafficking. For example, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand saw a 40 per cent increase in levels of rape in rural areas. In Australia, VAWG is five times higher in households impacted by bushfires.

Economic insecurity following climate disasters is another factor that increases VAWG. Following the disaster in Haiti, poverty lead to men looting homes and attacking women. South Asian countries also see higher rates of child marriage as a result of post-disaster poverty. Prolonged reconstruction of people’s homes, that leave people displaced in camps and shelters, also leads to women and girls being left at a heightened risk of violence. Poor law enforcement in temporary shelters and camps also allow VAWG to happen with little to no consequences for perpetrators. 

VAWG as a public health issue and disaster management concern needs to be addressed within policy making, planning and practice. The absence of women’s perspectives in disaster management increases the risk of post-disaster VAWG. Whilst the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 has pledged to be gender inclusive in policy, strategy and practice, the inclusion of women in disaster management on local levels is also needed.

Studies that look at the relationship between long-term climate related damage to environments and VAWG are necessary to understand the more nuanced consequences of environmental degradation.

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Record Number of People Internally Displaced Due to Extreme Weather Events in 2020

ocean wave

12 July 2021 – by Evelyn Workman

Extreme weather events displaced three times as many people as violent conflicts in 2020, according to figures published in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The report studies the number of displacements happening within borders each year. 

The report, which is released annually, studies the number of displacements happening within borders each year. It reported that there were at least 40 million new internal displacements recorded last year, which is the highest annual figure in 10 years. 30 million of these displacements were the result of natural disasters, such as floods and storms. The other 10 million new displacements were driven by violence and conflict. The figures refer to the total number of times people were forced to flee, rather than the overall number of people.

The report found that 80% of people forced from their homes in 2020 were in Africa and Asia. In Africa most new displacements were due to conflict. Violence in countries such as Burkina Faso and Mozambique and new wars erupting in countries like Ethiopia have caused 6.8 million displacements in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, heavy rainfall brought flooding and crop damage to countries already affected by violence, such as Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Niger, forcing people who were already displaced to flee again, according to the report. Extreme weather related disasters of this nature resulted in 4.3 million displacements in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020. 

In Asia, most displacement was caused by extreme weather events. For example, Cyclone Amphan triggered around five million displacements across Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Myanmar. The Atlantic hurricane season was also the most active on record last year, and included Hurricanes Eta and Iota which wreaked havoc across Central America, causing many people to flee coastal areas where damage was the greatest. 

The climate crisis is expected to displace more people in the future due to extreme weather events, and longer-term climate related consequences such as crop failure. It is understood that a warming climate is exacerbating extreme weather events by making them occur more frequently and more intensely. The IDMC report stated, “Every year, millions of people are forced to flee their homes because of conflict and violence. Disasters and the effects of climate change regularly trigger new and secondary displacement, undermining people’s security and wellbeing. The scale of displacement worldwide is increasing, and most of it is happening within countries’ borders.”

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Sustainable Climate Migration Strategy Could Bolster Global Agricultural Production

selective focus photo of wheat field

8 July 2021 – by Ben St. Laurent

The latest research indicates that climate change could put a third of global food production at risk under high emission scenarios. According to this report, “[t]he most vulnerable areas are the ones at risk of leaving [Safe Climate Spaces] with low resilience to cope with the change, particularly South and Southeast Asia and Africa’s Sudano-Sahelian Zone. The Sudano-Sahelian Zone is a bioclimatic belt extending from the southern edge of the Sahara Desert into the Sub-Saharan savannahs of many African countries. In Ghana, worsening climatic conditions have already displaced many agricultural workers from the Sudano-Sahelian Zone in Ghana’s Upper West Region. The Water & Development Research Group at Aalto University indicated that these trends in agricultural migration, if planned for sustainably, could provide a solution to potential decreases in crop yields.

A study published in Nature Communications expands on the concept of ‘crop migration’ —  whereby agricultural workers migrate to more suitable areas for cultivation, which mitigates damaging impacts of climate change on crop yield. But when unplanned, climate displacement creates refugees prone to higher rates of unemployment, homelessness, and poverty. The researchers conclude that crop migration is substantially responsible for maintaining crop yields in the face of changes to the climate sustained over the past few decades. But they warn that “continued migration may incur substantial environmental costs and will depend on socio-economic and political factors in addition to land suitability and climate.” 

Current projections indicate that climate change is likely to raise global temperatures above the 2°C goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. However, climate change will have differing effects on agriculture in various regions. Shifts in the winemaking industry illustrate this phenomenon clearly. While grape cultivation is expanding to include regions that have historically been too cold, vineyards in California and Australia have been devastated by wildfires which have displaced agricultural workers. While crop migration can help maintain current levels of agricultural production, the lack of supportive policy leads to unsustainable outcomes for migrants. Without such policies, current trends in crop migration could collapse, resulting in more climate refugees and reduced global agricultural production.

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Droughts to Dry up Afghanistan Once Again

brown and white mountains during daytime

5 July 2021 – by Atoosa Gitiforoz

Warnings of drought come amid escalating conflict ahead of the withdrawal of US troops and NATO forces. Coronavirus has also worsened an already poor health system where over a third of the population experiences food insecurity, rising prices and unemployment. 

In 2018, a drought caused 250,000 people to flee their homes. The slow aid response meant it was only until the government declared drought, action was taken. West Afghanistan saw families flee to areas outside Herat City, where thousands still remain displaced. This coming drought is expected to bring below-average wheat harvest and adverse impacts on livestock.

Aid groups say that they are better prepared for this drought – humanitarian groups have a plan that includes food and cash aid, support for livestock and water wells. However, ‘according to international forecast models, average precipitation and above-average temperature conditions are expected from June to August 2021.’  Donor funds are also stretched across the globe. Only 12% of the funding required for the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan has been received.

Afghanistan will need significant humanitarian support for the foreseeable future across many areas. Heat waves and more droughts are expected in Afghanistan as temperatures rise. Climate change is likely to push the aid sector to act more pre-emptively.

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EPA Updates Climate Change Data for the First Time Since 2016

iceberg near body of water

30 June 2021 – by Evelyn Workman

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated climate change data on its website for the first time in 5 years. The data is presented on the Climate Change Indicators website, the website allows the public to explore data generated primarily by federal agencies on climate change and its impact on people throughout the U.S. The first Climate Change Indicators report was published by the EPA in 2010, and the data was regularly updated on its website until the Trump administration in 2016. During his presidency, Donald Trump was openly sceptical of human-caused climate change, at times calling it a “hoax”. 

The recent data presented in the Climate Change Indicators report illustrates the alarming reality of the impact of climate change across the U.S. Surface temperatures across the U.S. are rising, and that increase is accelerating. This temperature increase is the most pronounced in Alaska, which saw an average temperature rise of more than 2°C in parts, since 1925. Rising temperatures are also worsening wildfires, according to the new data. Wildfire season is starting earlier, lasting longer, and the amount of land burned each year by wildfires is increasing. Heatwaves have also become more common due to increasing surface temperatures, with occurrences tripling in U.S. cities since the 1960s. Drought is growing in the Southwest, which in turn threatens the availability of drinking water.

Coastal flooding is five times more common in cities across the U.S. today compared to in the 1950s. A combination of melting of polar ice and rising water temperatures are the cause of the flooding, with sea level rising being particularly prominent along the East Coast and Gulf Coast. The new data also shows that incidents of lyme disease have doubled since 1991, as a warming climate across the U.S. is leading to deer ticks being able to survive in an increasing number of areas.

With this data update announcement, EPA administrator Michael Regan has made it clear that climate change is once again a top priority for the EPA. “There is no small town, big city or rural community that is unaffected by the climate crisis,” Regan said, “Americans are seeing and feeling the impacts up close, with increasing regularity.”

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Policy and Legal Advice on Climate Refugees From the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers

landscape photography of snowy mountains

28 June 2021 – by Hazal Yilmaz

The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) is preparing a report parallel to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Canada’s invitation for the federal government to examine its own laws with relation to climate change and migration. In their view, Canada is not paying due attention to the impending crisis.

In a podcast, which discussed the report, different solutions were explored. For example, it was argued that climate refugees are in fact no different from those who can get refugee status by escaping from persecution based on race, religion and political opinion; and that on this ground, no disparate treatment is necessary. Or another point was raised, that climate migrants could fall under the existing category of those applying for residency in a foreign country, after a natural disaster made their previous residence uninhabitable. It was also stated in the report that Canada’s sponsorship program for Syrian refugees could be utilized and adapted to leave room for those fleeing climate change.

The authors of the report hope that the proposed reinterpretation of exisiting regulations will be met with support from the Canadian public.

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NGOs File Third Party Interventions to ECHR in Support of Duarte Agostinho’s Climate Case

brown and black floral textile

23 June 2021 – by Ben St. Laurent

A landmark case brought by six young Portuguese citizens in November 2020 against 33 signatory states to the 2015 Paris Agreement continues to gain momentum at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In early May, the European Commissioner for Human Rights and a number of NGOs filed third party interventions to the Court in support of the applicants’ claim. Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others centers on the alleged violation of the applicants’ right to life (article 2) and right to respect for private and family life (article 8) as well as the prohibition of discrimination (article 14) due to the disproportional effects of climate change on younger generations. Due to the urgency of addressing climate change, the applicants won a legal battle confirming the court’s decision to fast-track the case.

The ECHR has constructed a notable body of case law which acknowledges the direct impact of certain environmental issues on human rights, and requires states to mitigate resulting violations of these rights. The ‘environmental admissibility criteria’ for the ECHR, established in Fadeyeva v Russia (2005), stipulates that interference on an applicant’s private life must be concrete and severe, a requirement which the applicants have already satisfied.

There is scientific and governmental consensus that climate change impacts human life, but a state’s legal obligation to mitigate the risk has yet to be established by the Court. By demonstrating causation between the defendant states’ greenhouse gas emissions and global warming induced heatwaves, the Duarte Agostinho case could set a new precedent for a state’s legal obligations to mitigate the effects of climate change. The third party interventions provide the Court with evidence linking national inaction on climate change to ensuing negative impacts on the applicant’s health and human rights.

The group of NGOs that recently filed supportive third party interventions includes Amnesty International, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, Germanwatch, Notre Affaire à Tous, and 2Celsius. These organisations have provided evidence supporting the claim that current national contributions will not reduce emissions to a level that will prevent global temperatures from rising above 2°C, in accordance with commitments of the Paris Agreement. According to Wendel Trio, Director of CAN Europe, “Current efforts by our governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are highly insufficient as the world is still heading for a temperature rise around 2.5°C, alarmingly above the objectives of the Paris Agreement.” The court should appreciate the expert knowledge on this subject as it waits for government defenses which are due by May 27th.