Human Rights
Climate change is affecting human rights around the world in significant ways. From health to food and self-determination, here are a few statistics and facts about these impacts that further demonstrate the need for coordinated action.
On Dec. 7, 2005, Canadian-born mother and grandmother Sheila Watt-Cloutier filed a 163-page petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights arguing that the impacts of climate change violated the “fundamental human rights” of Indigenous Inuit people like her across the Arctic.
Mercedes García Pérez is the head of global issues and innovation at the Delegation of the European Union to the USA.
Tia Kennedy is an Indigenous rights activist and youth leader in her community.
Michael Kotutwa Johnson is a member of the Hopi Tribe in Northern Arizona.
Florina Lopez is an Indigenous woman from Panama, a co-founder and coordinator of the Indigenous Women's Biodiversity Network, and an Indigenous activist.
Pasang Dolma Sherpa has worked with Indigenous peoples, women and local communities for the recognition of the Indigenous peoples’ knowledge, cultural values and customary institutions that contributed for sustainable management of forest, ecosystem, biodiversity and climate resilience for more than a decade.
Caroline Rees is the president and co-founder of Shift, a non-profit organization working with companies, financial institutions and standard-setters to make respect for human rights integral to how business gets done.
Dr. David R. Boyd is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment and is a professor of law, policy and sustainability at the University of British Columbia.
Kera Sherwood-O'Regan (Kāi Tahu) is an Indigenous and disabled climate justice expert and community advocate from Te Waipounamu, the South Island of New Zealand.