Climate and Justice: How can rights-based approaches help to fight climate change?

By Ethan Dockery

Ethan is a student on our MSc Environmental Change and International Development course.

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Global climate change has evolved into one of the most prominent threats to global development. The IPCC’s 2014 Synthesis Report¹revealed that the globe warmed on average by 0.85˚C from 1880-2012, with warming set to accelerate if greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly curtailed. The effects of climate change² are already impacting millions of people; ranging from sea level rise and flooding to biodiversity loss and the increased spread of tropical pests and diseases, nearly every global region is expected to be negatively affected in the coming decades. Therefore, evaluating how a diverse toolbox of approaches can help mitigate climate change impacts has never been more essential. 

 Rights-based approaches to development (RBAs), having become more prominent in recent decades (Filmer-Wilson 2005), may present a unique opportunity for policy-makers to reframe debates on climate change.  This blog will explore the potential that RBAs and their focus on human rights have to complement existing policy tools and help minimise the risks posed by global climate change. 

 What are RBAs?

RBAs use human rights law as a framework to fulfil, respect and protect human rights³. They allow rights-bearers to make claims against duty-bearers (both state and non-state actors) and  encourage equality, participation and transparency to protect all types of human rights (Filmer-Wilson 2005). This reframes traditional notions of development- rather than being viewed as ‘charity’, duty-bearers are obliged to give ‘justice’ to their citizens.

Potential of RBAs to Tackle Climate Change

Human rights and climate change already have recognised links⁴; it threatens all human rights including the right to life, adequate food and health. This allows organisations like Amnesty International⁵to contribute to climate action by adding a human element to a largely technical crisis, creating a powerful argument for campaigners (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Climate justice protests in Melbourne, Australia (Friends of the Earth International 2015).

 RBAs also present an alternative to economic approaches to development, which can create unintended setbacks by treating social justice as a secondary goal. This has been witnessed with REDD+⁶initiatives, which use financial incentives through carbon credits to reduce deforestation (responsible for around 15% of greenhouse gas emissions (Horner 2015)). Horner criticises these market-based schemes, as they create opportunities for ‘carbon piracy’ by private investors. In Peru, Friends of the Amazon⁷have filed lawsuits against ‘carbon cowboys’ who tempt indigenous tribes with deceptive contracts, falsely promising them billions in profits to relinquish ownership of their lands and carbon. Forests are often converted into palm oil plantations- these generate carbon credits for investors while devastating local biodiversity and violating the rights of dispossessed indigenous communities like the Yagua (see Figure 2) (Horner 2015). 

Figure 2: Elderly members of the Yagua Tribe in the Loreto region of Peru (Crystal 2006).

 RBAs empower indigenous groups to resist misappropriation of their resources, forcing duty-bearers to recognise their rights (Horner 2015). They also encourage their participation in policy-making; traditional knowledges and practices of indigenous communities are emerging as a new source of inspiration⁸ for strategies to fight and adapt to climate change. 

Disadvantages of RBAs

 Pedersen (2010) identifies a few hurdles that limit the potential of RBAs. Human rights legislation applies mostly at a national scale; there are few frameworks to penalise non-state duty-bearers like transnational corporations, that can move operations to other countries if they are threatened with legal action. Additionally, developed countries are often reluctant to hold corporations based there to account for rights violations they commit elsewhere. Many impacts of climate change also result from past emissions; is it possible to indict former major polluters in the developed world, and what evidence would be used in cases against them?

 These problems have to be addressed to improve the effectiveness of RBAs. Nonetheless, their potential for campaigners and addressing national-scale rights violations means that they cannot be ignored by development organisations in a world undergoing a climate crisis.

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References

• Filmer-Wilson, E. (2005) ‘The Human Rights-Based Approach to Development: The Right to Water’, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 23(2): 213-41.
• Horner, B. (2015) ‘Human Rights-Based Approach and Climate Change: Lessons from Developments of the CDM and REDD+’. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law, 19: 79-112.
•  Pedersen, O. W. (2010) ‘Climate change and human rights: amicable or arrested development?’. Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, 1(2): 236-251.

Links

⁵Amnesty International UK (2020) What has climate crisis got to do with human rights? Available online: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/what-has-climate-crisis-got-do-human-rights [accessed 19^th November 2020].

 ⁸Climate Home News (2019) Indigenous communities are at the forefront of climate resilience. Available online: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/11/28/indigenous-communities-forefront-climate-resilience/ [accessed 22^nd November 2020]. 

 ³The Danish Institute for Human Rights (2018) Human rights - based approach. 11^th December.Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DchjpjHOoaE&ab_channel=TheDanishInstituteforHumanRights [accessed 17^th November 2020].

 ⁴Earth Day Network (2019) Climate Change is a Human Rights Issue. Available online: https://www.earthday.org/climate-change-is-a-human-rights-issue/ [accessed  15^th March 2021].

 ⁶Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2020) REDD+ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Available online: http://www.fao.org/redd/en/ [accessed 17^th November 2020].

 ⁷Friends of the Amazon (2012) Stop Carbon Cowboys from Logging the Amazon Rainforest! Available online: http://www.friendsoftheamazon.org/carbon-cowboy.html [accessed 17^th November 2020].

 ¹IPCC (2014) AR5 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2014. Available online: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/ [accessed 15^th March 2021].

² MET Office (2019) Effects of climate change. Available online: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change [accessed 18^th November 2020].

Photos

• Crystal, C. (2006) Amazon Indians [image]. Available online. [accessed 15^th March 2021]. Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-ND 2.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ .
• Friends of the Earth International (2015) Melbourne demands climate justice! [image]. Available online. [accessed 15^th March 2021]. Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/