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European Union Says Climate Change Threatens International Security •
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"Environmental Rights Are Related to Many Other Rights"
By Caroline Stevan
Le Temps
Tuesday 11 March 2008
The harmful consequences of global warming are almost unanimously
acknowledged. Nonetheless, do environmental rights exist?
Between now and 2050, the residents of the Tuvalu Islands in the center of
the Pacific could become the first climate-change refugees. The increase in
temperatures - among other factors - weakens the coral reefs and sea water is
already seeping in everywhere. As they await catastrophe, the population does
what it can. Taro, the archipelago's basic foodstuff, has virtually disappeared;
the roads to the airport and its runways are frequently impassable. The question
of climate change will be addressed this Tuesday in the framework of the Geneva
Film Festival and International Forum on Human Rights. Nathalie Bernasconi,
attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), will participate
in the debate scheduled after the screening of a documentary on Tuvalu.
Le Temps: Are environmental rights recognized as such?
Nathalie Bernasconi: Yes, they are stipulated in a large number of conventions
and even some constitutions. That said, it's been principally jurisprudence
that has brought elements of this question to bear: for example, some Peruvians
brought suit against their government as a consequence of air and water pollution
from a mining operation. The plaintiffs deemed that the authorities had not
adequately protected them. Environmental rights are, moreover, linked to many
other rights: the right to health, notably. At that point, the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights may be invoked.
Your NGO is based in Washington with an office in Geneva. Do you perceive
differences in sensibility between the two sides of the Atlantic?
Bernasconi: The United States is reluctant to ratify most conventions, whether
they relate to climate or other domains. But the USA is a pioneer on a number
of other issues. Europeans are more sensitive to food-related questions and
the principle of precaution is stronger here. All the same, that doesn't prevent
Europeans from recycling their old tires and selling them far afield, notably
to Brazil. Rio has brought suit against the European Union at the World Trade
Organization (WTO) because those tires cannot be retreaded twice. Consequently,
they lie around on the streets, fill with water and become breeding grounds
for dengue fever and malaria. The WTO has allowed that argument.
Is it possible to imagine a suit based on global warming?
Bernasconi: The Inuit have brought suit before the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights on the basis that the United States' activities are responsible
for global climate change that in and of itself entails violations of their
rights. The Inuit are losing their land because of ice melt. Their right to
food is undermined because the animals they depend on are migrating or disappearing.
There are many accidents due to ice breaks; in that regard, their right to security
is no longer respected. And then, their right to maintain their tradition is
hurt by virtue of the changes in hunting and fishing patterns. The trial is
underway. One Alaska village has attacked the oil companies on the same principle.
What's the situation with respect to the Tuvalu Islands?
Bernasconi: The Maldives, which risk experiencing the same scenario, have made
a declaration with the aim of having their vulnerability acknowledged. A proposed
resolution is supposed to be studied during this session of the Human Rights
Council. The High Commission for Human Rights is also beginning to look into
the issue. For the moment, we're exploring the connections between global warming
and changes in certain populations' living environment. We're not yet to the
point of looking for who's responsible.
Has the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) taken any measures?
Bernasconi: The concept of a climate refugee was elaborated in 1985 by the
United Nations Program for the Environment, but there is no real legal definition.
There are several paradigms: populations driven out by climatic catastrophes
such as the tsunami or Hurricane Katrina, "gradual change refugees"
- when the earth becomes too dry to be cultivated, for example - and finally
those who find it completely impossible to stay in their home; that's the Tuvalu
case. It is difficult, given these factors, to provide a universal definition.
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European Union Says Climate Change Threatens International Security
By Thomas Ferenczi
Le Monde
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Global climate change not only constitutes a danger to the environment; it
also imperils international security. That is the leitmotiv
of a document jointly constituted by the offices of the European Union's High
Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, and
by the European Commission that will be presented to the heads of state and
government during the European Council's meeting on Thursday, March 13.
According to this report, climate change represents a "threat multiplier"
that "exacerbates existing tendencies, tensions, and instabilities."
In consequence, the Union must provide itself with the means of responding to
these risks, by strengthening its "research, analysis, and rapid response
capabilities" and by improving its tools for civilian protection and crisis
management in the face of the coming catastrophes.
The text distinguishes several forms of threat related to climate change. Some
originate in the predictable aggravation of conflicts over access to resources.
"Water shortages, in particular, are likely to provoke substantial civil
disturbances and economic losses, even in solid economies," write the authors,
who also mention "tensions linked to energy supplies," the increase
of which will breed instability. Conflicts could also intensify around the resources
situated in the Polar regions, which warming will open to exploitation.
"Territorial Losses"
Coastal regions, where nearly a fifth of the global population lives, are particularly
threatened. "Megalopolises and their support infrastructure, such as ports
and petroleum refineries, are often located by the sea or in river deltas,"
the report - which worries about rising sea levels - notes. Moreover, "coastal
recession and the submersion of vast areas could entail territory loss and even
the disappearance of whole countries."
Another possible consequence, the growth of migrations, is likely to create
difficult situations. The United Nations, the document indicates, expects there
to be millions of environmental migrants between now and 2020. "These migrations,"
it adds, "could translate into an increase in the number of conflicts in
the transit and destination regions."
Since some of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, such as North
Africa and the Middle East, neighbor the European Union, the EU should experience
increased migratory pressure.
Finally, climate change may destabilize the most fragile states if they don't
succeed in facing those changes and promoting "political radicalization."
Climate change also risks "feeding resentments" between those countries
and populations most responsible for climate change and those that are the most
affected.
This "potential fracture," the report relates, will not only be a
North-South division, but will comprise a South-South dimension, given China
and India's growing share of global emissions.
Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.
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