Climate Change and JusticeJanuary 9th 2007Approach to Climate Change should be rooted in Human RightsMary Robinson has called for policymakers to adopt an approach to climate change that is rooted in the international human rights framework. Making her statements in a lecture at Chatham House in London, Robinson argued for a revival of the multilateral spirit that led to the global eradication of smallpox and the phasing out of CFC gases.
"Climate change has already begun to affect the fulfillment of human rights," she added, "and our shared human rights framework entitles and empowers developing countries and impoverished communities to claim protection of these rights." The lecture was given in honour of the late thinker and environmentalist Barbara Ward whose legacy lives on in the form of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), which she founded in 1971. Barbara Ward, who died 25 years ago, first identified the need for sustainable development in her landmark book "Only One Earth". Scientists warn that climate change will increase the risk of floods as glaciers melt and sea levels rise, and will cause more intense monsoons in India and droughts in Africa. Poor countries and poor communities are likely to be worst hit, given their concentration in the tropics, their heavy reliance on agriculture and their limited capacity to deal with shocks. "There is strong evidence of the rich causing the problem, with the poor most adversely affected, and thus it is time that rich countries address their obligations to reduce climate change and mitigate its effects, including those beyond their borders," Robinson said. As the recent Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change has argued, investing now to limit climate change and prepare for its effects would cost a fraction of waiting until these adverse impacts have made themselves known. Published on 30 October 2006, the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change concluded that climate change could shrink the global economy by up to 20 per cent but that acting now to face the threat would cost just one per cent of global GDP. Additional Resources and Related Articles:
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She argued that: "We can no longer think of climate change as an issue where we the rich give charity to the poor to help them cope. Rather, this has now become an issue of global injustice that will need a radically different approach. 
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