Live on the island -EN
The climate crisis is having a profound impact on humanity: biodiversity loss,
deforestation, water scarcity, natural disasters, pollution, species extinction and the
overall degradation of Earth's ecosystems aect lives worldwide. Researchers have
also found that, since the effects of climate change are so far‐reaching, they will
compromise achieving most of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
such as those relating to poverty, hunger, health and well‐being, education, water
and sanitation, and peace and justice (Sanson, Hoorn and Burke 2019).
A recent brieng “Responding to the health risks of climate change in Europe” by
Lancet Countdown and the European Environment Agency (2021) highlights that
weather and climate extremes in Europe increase the spread of infectious diseases,
droughts and wildres (for example, more European countries suered from wild-
res in 2018 than previously recorded). Meanwhile, worldwide, the UN Refugee
Agency (n.d.) estimates that due to the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme
weather events, around 20 million people are forced to leave their homes and migrate each year.
The 2015 Paris Agreement notes that climate change is “an urgent and potentially
irreversible threat to human societies and the planet” (The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change 2015). It is therefore not surprising that European institutions have recognised that the well-being of our planet is dependent on ensuring
both human rights and a healthy environment for future generations.
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A healthy environment is a precondition for the preservation of life on our planet and, therefore, for the very enjoyment [...] [of] rights and liberties under the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. [...][The] Council of Europe
has a key role to play in mainstreaming the environmental dimension into human rights and
pursu[ing] a rights-based approach to environmental protection.”
Declaration by the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.