From Pacific islanders losing their homelands to encroaching seas, to indigenous people forced from their forests in the name of conservation, human rights are already being violated by both climate change impacts and solutions, U.N. rights experts said.
At climate talks in Paris, tasked with hammering out a new deal to tackle global warming by the end of this week, the experts called for strong language on respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous people to be included in the agreement.
In a report released Thursday, which is International Human Rights Day, the U.N. Environment Program said the far-reaching environmental impacts of climate change pose a threat to human rights, including the rights to health, food, water and adequate housing.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the U.N. special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, said indigenous communities have helped keep climate change in check by saving forests and managing ecosystems well.
Tauli-Corpuz urged other countries that have also signed an international pledge on human rights and climate action – including France – to join them.
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