WUNRN
http://roadtoparis.info/2015/07/29/qa-with-mary-robinson-what-is-climate-justice/
Mary Robinson Speaks on Climate Justice, Human Rights, Importance for Women
Mary
Robinson was the first woman President of Ireland (1990-1997),
and is a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997-2002).
She has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate and has sought
throughout her career to use law as an instrument for social change, arguing
landmark cases before the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court
in Luxembourg as well as in the Irish courts. A committed European, she also
served on expert European Community and Irish parliamentary committees. She has
received many honours and awards throughout the world including the
Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. Germana Canzi asked her
about the work she is doing on climate change justice through the Mary
Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, of which she is
President.
What
is climate justice?
Mary
Robinson—Climate justice is a moral argument in two parts. Firstly it compels
us to understand the challenges faced by those people and communities most
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Often the people on the front
lines of climate change have contributed least to the causes of the climate
crisis. This is an injustice which can only be rectified by swift and ambitious
climate action, including reducing emissions to zero as rapidly as possible.
Climate
justice also informs how we should act to combat climate change. We must ensure
that the transition to a zero carbon economy is just and that it enables all
people to realise their right to development. This requires that the global
community acts in solidarity and ensures that the necessary resources are
available to allow all countries and people to make the transition to clean,
renewable energy on the same timescale.
Why
have you chosen this as the focus for your Foundation?
When I
had the honour to serve as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to
2002, climate change was not uppermost in peoples’ minds. It was only
afterwards, when I was leading an organisation called ‘Realizing Rights’, that
I met many farmers across Africa – mostly women – who would tell me that the seasons
were no longer predictable. “It’s not the same anymore,” they would tell me.
“We can’t plan when to sow and when to harvest”.
I began
to realise that the climate shocks in African countries were making it much
harder to achieve food security and were undermining development prospects.
What’s more, those suffering the worst impacts were not responsible for the
situation they found themselves in – therefore it was a justice issue. So I
decided to create an entity which became the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate
Justice.
What
is the role of climate justice in communicating climate change?
Climate
change can be difficult to communicate. It is often seen as distant and highly
technical. Climate justice focuses our attention on people, rather than
ice-caps and greenhouse gases. I think this makes the threat of climate change
more tangible.
Considering
the lives already being affected by climate change challenges us to reflect on
the devastating harm being done by so-called “business-as-usual ”. Earlier this
year, I met with President Anote Tong of Kiribati. The greatest tragedy that is
unfolding for the people of Kiribati is that the rising sea levels have forced
the administration to consider “migration with dignity” for the people.
President Tong has purchased land on Fiji as an insurance policy, should
climate change drive his people from their island home.
No world
leader should have to plan for evacuation from the land of their ancestors. No
leader should have to consider the necessary conditions that would allow the
people to retain their dignity as they are displaced from their homeland. And
yet President Tong, like many leaders of climate vulnerable countries, is
demonstrating tremendous leadership in the face of these enormous challenges.
These are
the stories that need to be told. By helping people to understand the human
dimensions, and that the impacts of climate change are being felt today, we can
change perceptions of the crisis we are facing.
Why
is it important to consider human rights in climate policy? What are the risks
if this does not happen?
Sooner or
later, governments are going to have to take comprehensive action to combat
climate change. As the window to act gets smaller, the likelihood that this
action will be hastily implemented increases and this, in turn, will increase
the very real human rights risks associated with rapid mitigation action. To
avoid this, we must begin a global transition to a zero carbon economy
immediately, and all countries must be enabled to take part.
We must
all be alert to the very real possibility that the most vulnerable people could
be left behind as we transition to a low carbon economy. A transition to zero
carbon has multiple opportunities for people in developed and developing
countries in terms of energy security, job creation and greater resilience but
these opportunities will only be realised if that transition is fair,
respecting human rights obligations. By considering human rights in planning,
designing and implementing climate action, policymakers can avoid harmful
unintended consequences while maximising the social benefits of their
programmes and projects.
There
have already been well documented cases of human rights violations in the name
of climate action. One very clear example is the forced displacement of people
and communities for the construction of hydro-electric reservoirs. Food prices
have also increased dramatically when food crops are used for ethanol, causing
hardship in poor communities. Another potential issue could be the damage inflicted
on communities currently dependent on carbon intensive sectors like mining.
Without a plan for the future of these communities – a plan for a just
transition – they will be exposed to poverty traps similar to those experienced
by mining communities in the UK during the coal closures of the 1980s.
The
Geneva Pledge on Human Rights and Climate Action announced in February looks
like a step in the right direction, but what does it mean in practice?
The
Geneva Pledge is a welcome initiative conceived by Costa Rica which aims to
encourage human rights experts and climate experts to collaborate at the
national level in order to better understand how national climate action can be
informed by human rights. It is voluntary and, to date, 20 countries have signed
up. In practice, this sharing of best practice and expertise helps policymakers
demystify what is meant by respecting human rights in climate action and makes
clear why considering human rights will make climate action more effective. It
can also foster more collaboration within and between countries as more
practical examples of best practice emerge.
What is the role of gender in climate change?
Climate
change exacerbates existing inequalities, including gender inequalities. As
women and men are affected differently by the impacts of climate change, with
women likely to bear the greater burden in situations of poverty, climate
actions have to be gender sensitive. To realize climate justice, women’s voices
must be heard and their priorities supported. In many countries and cultures,
women are at the forefront of living with the reality of the injustices caused
by climate change. They can play a vital role as agents of change within their
communities and must be empowered to do so. My Foundation has been active in
bringing women leaders together on climate change, and connecting high-level
women leaders with grassroots women leaders.
I
recently interviewed Mark Kenber of the Climate Group, on the role
of business in climate change policy. Do you see any risks from this focus on economics
and markets rather than the human and human rights dimension of climate change?
The two
are not diametrically opposed. There has been significant work done on the
linkages between business and human rights. In 2011, the UN Human Rights
Council adopted Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These
principles acknowledge that the responsibility to respect human rights is a
global standard of expected conduct for all businesses wherever they operate.
Advances in integrating Environmental, Social and Governance criteria into
corporate decision making can also ensure that concrete steps are taken to
avoid negative impacts on human rights.
Nevertheless,
it is important to recognise that market based approaches are not a silver
bullet.. Those people in the most vulnerable situations typically live beyond
the reach of conventional markets, and so require their needs to be met through
other channels that can provide sustained social gains in the long term. For
example, much of the necessary adaptation financing required to protect the
most vulnerable communities will need to come from public sources.
Some
argue that we can’t solve climate change and poverty if we do nothing to stop
population growth. What are your thoughts on this?
I think
this is too simplistic a take on all three issues. Poverty contributes to
population growth because of lack of education, healthcare and family planning
and population growth aggravates poverty. The challenge is to end this cycle.
By enabling sustainable development, including better education and the
empowerment of women – both central to ending poverty – we will reduce
population growth. But I think conflating climate change and population growth
is somewhat misleading.
Low
income countries have the highest birth rates. These countries also have the
least responsibility for climate change. In Niger, for example, fertility rates
are very high, almost six times higher than in Germany, but each person in
Germany emits roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide in a year as one
hundred people in Niger. The challenge is to ensure that all people have access
to clean, renewable energy sources to power their sustainable development –
this would help to overcome all three issues.
Could
the current refugee crises in the Mediterranean and elsewhere – which of
course have a variety of causes – be looked at as a first test of how
governments, particularly in rich countries, will react to future climate
related displacement?
The world
is grossly underprepared for a situation where adaptation fails and people are
displaced due to climate change.
The first
thing developed country governments should do is provide resources for
adaptation so that people do not have to leave the homes of their ancestors due
to human induced climate change. This will require urgent and unprecedented
levels of support – the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report indicates that the global
cost of adaptation could be as much as $200 or $300 billion per year by 2050 –
but it is right that the rich countries responsible for the problem help to
protect the culture, heritage and identity of the most vulnerable communities
and countries.
States
facing climate-related displacement within their borders require significant
financial support and technical expertise to develop solutions that provide for
the rights of those affected. The Peninsula Principles provide a normative
framework, based on human rights, to address the rights of internally displaced
people. For people forced to leave their homeland and flee across a border, there
is no protection assured under existing international law. This requires urgent
attention.
At COP 16
in Cancun Parties agreed under the Cancun Adaptation Framework to undertake
measures to better understand and cooperate on issues related to climate change
induced displacement. The Nansen Initiative, launched in 2012, has been working
towards a protection agenda for people displaced across borders in the context
of climate change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction also
addresses issues of displacement and human mobility. These advances must now be
built upon so that there are robust legal measures in place to protect those
people on the front lines of climate change
What
should EU governments be doing about it?
EU countries, in particular, should recognise that climate change is already a “push factor” driving people out of some parts of Africa. This problem will get worse, so European leaders need to prepare a structured and humane response which both enables climate displaced people to resettle in European countries and helps their countries of origin to become more resilient to climate change.