Washington, D.C., July 11, 2011 – Continued emission of climate pollutants violates human rights and requires rapid mitigation to protect the world’s most vulnerable people, according to a joint submission to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights by the Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) in Argentina and the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (IGSD) in Washington D.C. and Geneva.
Climate pollutants and associated adverse impacts from climate change are violating the human right to life, health, water, food, equality before the law, effective judicial remedy, residence and movement, self determination, clean environment, and to be free from interference with one’s home. In accordance with International. Human Rights Law, States have a mandatory obligation to adopt special measures to protect the fundamental rights of the inhabitants of the world’s most vulnerable regions. The joint submission, available at CEDHA-IGSD-NonCO2-Short-Term-Climate-Pollutants-and-Human-Rights-June, identifies specific fast actions to reduce the emission of climate pollutants.
“It is clear that we are operating under circumstances of extreme emergency,” stated Romina Picolotti, President of CEDHA. “The Human Rights Council,” she added, “being the highest organ of the U.N. Human Rights System, has an affirmative duty to ensure the international protection of the basic rights of human beings. The failure to act immediately will imply, not only massive human rights violations, but also will rob the U.N. Human Rights System of its purpose and raison detre.”
Some climate pollutants are also causing separate and direct adverse impacts on human health and food crops, in particular, emissions of black carbon soot and tropospheric (ground level) ozone. These two climate pollutants, along with methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are collectively known as short-lived climate pollutants, or non-carbon dioxide climate pollutants.
They are responsible for half of global climate change and the associated adverse impacts.
The other 50% of warming is caused by carbon dioxide. Cutting carbon dioxide emissions is essential for long-term climate protection. However, because a significant fraction of the carbon dioxide emitted today stays in the atmosphere for thousands of years and is not completely removed for 400,000 to a million years after its release, cutting carbon dioxide pollution does not produce immediate cooling of the climate system, and does not provide relief to the vulnerable peoples and ecosystems they depend upon, which are already suffering the adverse impacts of global warming.
In addition to causing half of global climate change, the short-lived climate pollutants are causing serious harm to public health. Black carbon soot kills as many as 2.4 million people each year, mostly women and children. Ground level ozone in addition to causing additional non-lethal health effects, as well as significant damage to food crops. Protecting vulnerable people and places from increasing climate impacts requires fast mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants.
“Any pollutant that kills more than 2 million women and children every year is a crime against humanity especially when we currently have the technology, and infrastructure to immediately stop this deadly pollution and protect these vulnerable people,” states Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.
Cutting these short-lived climate pollutants can be done using existing technologies and laws at both national and international levels. Emissions of black carbon and tropospheric ozone can be significantly reduced quickly by implementing 16 measures identified in the 15 June 2011 joint report by U.N. Environment Programme and World Meteorological Organization. Developed from a review of over 2,000 possible measures, implementing these 16 measures by 2030, could cut the rate of global warming in half and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two thirds in 2050. Such measures include: coal mine ventilation, controlling manure emissions, applying diesel particulate filters to vehicles, replacing traditional cookstoves, kilns, coke ovens and heaters with clean modern equivalents and fuels, and banning open field burning.
On an international level, mitigation policies should be pursued through existing international agreements as recommended in the Feb 2011 UNEP Science Policy brief on near-term climate protection and clean air benefits.
International and national measures can also be taken to reduce production, use, and emission of HFCs following inter alia the measures recommended in the Ozone Secretariat Technology and Economic Assessment Panel report of May 2011 describing climate-friendly HFC alternatives.
Finally, the Montreal Protocol should be amended to control and reduce the production and use of HFCs, in line with the proposal by the Federated States of Micronesia and similar joint proposal by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
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The Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente is a non-profit organization which aims to build a more harmonious relationship between the environment and people. Our work centers on promoting greater access to justice and guarantee human rights for victims of environmental degradation, or due to non-sustainable management of natural resources, and to prevent future violations. To this end, CEDHA fosters the creation of inclusive public policy that promotes inclusive socially and environmentally sustainable development, through community participation, public interest litigation, strengthening democratic institutions, and the capacity building of key actors. For more information, visit http://www.cedha.org.ar
The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development’s mission is to promote just and sustainable societies and to protect the environment by advancing the understanding, development and implementation of effective, accountable and democratic systems of governance for sustainable development.
Beginning in 2006, the Institute embarked on a “fast-action” climate mitigation campaign to promote non-CO2 strategies that will result in significant emissions reductions in the near- term, to complement cuts in CO2 which are essential for the long-term. These strategies include reducing emissions of local air pollutants such as black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone; mitigation of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) through the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty; and carbon-negative measures such as biosequestration through expanded biochar production.
For more information, visit www.igsd.org
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Contact: Tai Ullmann, IGSD: +1.202.338.1300, [email protected]