Human Rights Council alerted to roll back of environmental regulations and climate action during covid-19 pandemic

Roll backs in environmental protections and climate action during the covid-19 pandemic will undermine human rights and ultimately increase the likelihood of future pandemics, warned rights and environment groups as the 44th session of the UN Human Rights Council kicked off today in Geneva in very restricted covid-19-related conditions. ‘Covid-19 has revealed the world’s vulnerabilities, many of which intersect with and exacerbate the on-going environment and climate crisis’ said the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in a joint written statement, with Franciscans International, Amnesty International, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and Earthjustice.

Human Rights Council member States were alerted to the harmful actions and omissions of some States, which rather than scaling-up environmental and climate action, during the pandemic and in the recovery process, have lowered and even rolled back environmental regulations and standards, suspending environmental monitoring requirements, reducing environmental enforcement, and restricting public participation.

The joint statement also highlights the serious risks posed by the increase in economic activity during the recovery phases of the pandemic, which compounded by the postponement of the UNFCCC negotiation processes, threaten to weaken the movement towards higher climate ambition at a critical time for climate action and reinforcement of Paris Agreement committments.

Given the unprecedented threat that climate change and environmental degradation pose to human rights, and the urgency of the situation, the joint statement calls on States to embrace two initiatives.

First, to establish a Special Procedure Mandate on Human Rights and Climate Change to elevate the nexus of climate change and human rights in the work of the Council, build on the work of other special procedures and mainstream a human rights-based approach in all climate change-related actions and policies. Second, the Human Rights Council should adopt a resolution recognizing the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

These are two very concrete initiatives that the Human Rights Council should take to prevent further rights harms and in recognition of the intrinsic link between the health of people and the planet.

The Joint Written Statement on the Impact of Covid-19 on Environment and Climate Change is available here.