Pakistan contributes less than 1 per cent in global carbon emission, but stands amongst the vulnerable countries of the world that will be affected by climate change in the coming decades.
Research artical by Sana Sahar
The situation becomes more complex given the state’s fragile trajectory towards economic development and its adherence to fossil fuels.
For a country like Pakistan, climate change has become a unique human rights issue and must be dealt with placing the latter at the center of every state policy. Activists urge the government to work on a decarbonized economy, giving the protection of its people the prime importance.
Malnutrition and Undernutrition
Articale by Sana Sahar
Unprecedented global warming has been observed in recent decades. Around the world, mean air and water temperatures have increased, amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea levels have risen. Canada is no exception: our mean temperature has increased by more than twice the global average temperature.
A warming climate will likely have short- and long-term effects on people’s lives. Many aspects of our society are governed to some extent by climate. Here in Canada, climate change is likely to have an impact on human health, human rights, migration, food security, the economy, employment, national security and transportation.
Political, social and economic institutions will have no choice but to adapt to the societal disruption brought about by climate change, but they can also find ways to take advantage of new opportunities. That means taking climate change into account in public policy planning.
Despite these efforts, it is clear that climate change will have short- and long-term effects on people’s lives.7 Climate influences many aspects of our society, including agricultural production, the prevalence of certain diseases, and building and infrastructure design. Over time, climate change may also disrupt health, social and economic conditions.
the impact of climate change on serious aspects of our society: health, human rights, migration, food security, the economy, employment, national security and transportation. The impact of climate change on human beings and public policy is addressed in each case.
Health issues
Climate change is characterized by an increasing global temperature, rising sea levels and altered precipitation patterns, with more frequent extreme weather–related events, including heat waves, floods, fires and droughts.Each of these outcomes can affect human health, either directly or indirectly
Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are resulting in lower crop yields, which leads to both food insecurity and reduced food quality. Harvests of rice and maize could fall by as much as 40% by the end of the century due to rising temperatures.
As well, permanent flooding or salination of the soil is projected to cause populations to move inland and agricultural land to be lost from low-lying coastal regions, which are vulnerable to rising sea levels.
Human Rights and UN
In 1972, the international community met in Stockholm for the first global environmental conference.35 The resulting declaration recognized that humanity has the power to transform our environment, and that doing so “wrongly or heedlessly” would jeopardize our basic human rights, including the right to life
Almost 50 years later, the human rights implications of climate change are better understood. The Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted in 2015 that some of the rights most significantly affected by climate change moving forward will be rights to life, self-determination, development, food, water and sanitation, health, housing, education, and meaningful and informed participation. OHCHR also highlighted that climate change will disproportionately affect the particular rights of certain groups, such as Indigenous peoples, women, rural workers, persons with disabilities, children and future generations While there is consensus that climate change has the potential to disrupt the full realization of a wide range of human rights, it is less clear what governments are required to do about it. The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on all countries to “respect, promote and consider” human rights obligations when addressing climate change.41 Perhaps more significantly, in a 2019 joint statement, five United Nations human rights treaty bodies warned that failure to prevent the foreseeable human rights impacts of climate change could constitute a violation of existing international legal obligations
The rights to life and security of the person are recognized by foundational international human rights treaties,46 as well as by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.47 Climate change poses a threat to the realization of these rights, including through increased extreme weather events, periods of intense heat and cold, food scarcity and air quality degradation.
Internationally, rights to life and security of the person have formed part of the basis for climate change claims against governments. The first successful example of this occurred in the Netherlands in 2015, when the Dutch government was ordered by the Hague District Court to reduce GHG emissions by 25% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.48 In 2019, it was confirmed by the Dutch Supreme Court that this was the minimum action required based on international scientific consensus, fundamental human rights, including the right to life, and specific Dutch constitutional and civil law principles
Legal aspects
However, some legal scholars have argued that this interpretation could change if, for example, a government set a standard that allowed for harmful levels of emissions to the point that increased risks of death, adverse health impacts or serious psychological stress could be clearly demonstrated. Although this would be a significant shift in Charter interpretation.
Regardless of the outcomes of these particular cases, it is clear that climate change has a range of impacts on human rights which can be expected to grow in significance.
We must remember
Sixty-eight years after its creation, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recorded the highest number of individuals ever displaced because of persecution, conflict or generalized violence.
What we can do.
So we should keep all aspects of life of people ‘ exsective michanism michanism and bariars for lawmaking and actions for “sustainability to save humanity” should be the new motto of every public and private institution. They say that it has now become a humanitarian cause and the government of a state cannot mitigate its effects alone. When human life becomes endangered by the humans themselves, then its reversibility is only possible through combined human efforts, they reiterate.