Environmental Justice on the 50th Anniversary of the Passage of the Civil Rights Act

Today is the anniversary of the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act which was signed into law 50 years ago. The half century celebration pays homage not only to race, but also to progress on gay rights and the equality of women. To that list of civil rights we should be adding environmental issues.

As reviewed in an August 2013 article in the Guardian, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, the chief executive officer of Green For All made the point the Hurricane Katrina highlighted issues of injustice and inequality.

As she explained, "Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue; it’s about keeping our communities safe. It’s a matter of justice. Because when it comes to disasters — from extreme temperatures to storms like Katrina — people of color are consistently hit first and worst."

In 2013 Green for All marched in Washington DC with tens of thousands of people from across America to observe the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on the Nation's capitol. They marched against the recent attack on voting rights. They demanded justice in the face of Stand Your Ground laws and racial profiling. They marched to raise awareness on unemployment, poverty, gun violence, immigration, and gay rights. And they called for action on climate change.

As explained by Ellis-Lamkins, "African-Americans living in L.A. are more than twice as likely to die in a heat wave as other residents in the city." He also showed how people of color are more likely to suffer the ravages of pollution, citing the fact that 68 percent of African-Americans live within 30 miles of a toxic coal plant and one out of six black kids suffers from asthma, compared with one in 10 nationwide.

He said that efforts to combat climate change are part of Martin Luther King's famous 1963, "I have a dream" speech. "This is Dr. King’s dream reborn. And fighting climate change helps get us there" he said. "We need to respond to climate change today to ensure safe, healthy, prosperous lives for our kids tomorrow."

"The solutions to climate change won’t just make us safer and healthier — they are one of the best chances we’ve had in a long time to cultivate economic justice in our communities. Clean energy, green infrastructure, and sustainable industries are already creating jobs and opportunity," he said.

For people of color creating employment and improving the environment are fundamental issues of human rights.

"That’s why we have to add climate change to our retooled list of what the civil rights movement stands for," Ellis-Lamkins said.

© 2014, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Canadian Sheila Watt-Cloutier the World's Leading Voice on Arctic Climate Impacts and Human Rights

Sheila Watt-Cloutier is an Inuit activist who was instrumental in helping the world understand the link between climate change impacts in the Arctic and human rights. At 60, this grandmother continues to be a leader of human rights for people living in the Arctic. Although she currently lives in Iqaluit, she was born into a traditional Inuit family in Kuujjuaq, in Northern Quebec's Nunavik region.

In 2005 she issued a legal petition against the US which focused on the relationship between climate change and human rights. This landmark effort helped to earn her a Nobel Peace Prize nomination alongside Al Gore in 2007. In addition to the nomination, she holds a number of honorary degrees and other awards. She received the Order of Canada in 2006.

In 2010 she was recognized as one of 25 "Transformational Canadians," a program which celebrates living citizens who have made a difference by immeasurably improving the lives of others. In a 2013 book by Ken McGoogan, she was recognized as one of "50 Canadians Who Changed the World."

Unlike some of her contemporaries she is not an advocate of conflict. "I have always engaged in the politics of influence rather than the politics of protest," she said, "The style of leadership that I have is one of bringing people together and understanding that we're all one here. The planet and its people are one."

While she is a champion of Arctic ecological issues, she is not anti-business. When it comes to development in the north she advocates finding a balance between business interests and ecological concerns.

Her political leadership began in 1995, when she was elected corporate secretary of Makivik Corp. She then headed the Canadian and subsequently the international branch of the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC). At the ICC, she led Northern indigenous people from four countries in a campaign against persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which have long poisoned the Arctic food chain. She was also instrumental in negotiating a global treaty that seeks to ban these toxins.

Now Watt-Cloutier is on a mission to transform public opinion into public policy. As part of that endeavor she published a book in 2012 called The Right to Be Cold. In the book she explains that the Arctic is the early-warning system for climate change and its fate is relevant to everyone.

Recently, Watt-Cloutier was among a group of Canadian Inuit leaders who fondly remembered an impromptu meeting with Nelson Mandela whose plane briefly touched down in Iqaluit on July 1, 1990. Ten years later Watt-Cloutier met Mandela in Johannesburg, and the man reportedly remembered their brief encounter in 2000.  

When Mandela died on December 5, she said that she was inspired by his leadership, “he modeled such integrity, strength, and resilience in the face of such public persecution.”

Watt-Cloutier's life story on the international scene may seem glorious, but the truth is that for much of the last 14 years, her journey has been defined by an abiding sadness and sense of loss. First she lost her sister, then her aunt, then her mother, and most recently her young cousin and young niece. This string of tragedies allegedly helped her to cultivate her insights and led to a profound understanding of the nature of existence.

"In those places of deep grief I deepened my personal journey," she said. "I could eventually translate my new perspectives into powerful opportunities for personal change and growth. I came to see in a vivid way that all things are interconnected and that all things happen for a greater cause. I came to know trust in the life process. I came to know courage, tenacity and commitment. I needed these character skills in order to survive my grief. As it turned out, I also needed them to strengthen and raise the volume of my own voice on the global stage."

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Former Irish President on Development Goals, Climate and Human Rights

Former Irish president Mary Robinson, has added her voice to those who are advocating for development goals, an agreement on climate change and a stronger emphasis on human rights. Robinson is a human rights campaigner and founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice.

The UN's millennium development goals (MDGs) will expire in 2015 and new sustainable development goals are to take their place.

The UN has acknowledged that climate change is a human rights issue. So it stands to reason that a global agreement on climate change is a human rights issue.

Keeping global warming to below the established 2 degrees Celsius upper threshold would be one of the most far reaching ways we can protect the human rights of people around the world.

"Human rights is about targeting the very vulnerable … making governments more accountable and [ensuring] the participation by people on how goals will be implemented," Robinson was quoted as saying in the Guardian.

In 1993 the Vienna declaration renewed efforts to protect and promote human rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, there is a big discrepancy between what was said and what is being done.

"The post-2015 development agenda is the most important task facing the UN today. Human rights are an essential platform for development, and the rule of law is a powerful instrument to translate human rights into national development policies."

To realize her vision we will need to deepen our understanding of human rights. This involves equally weighting economic, social and cultural rights alongside political and civil rights. Part of the solution will also involve better measurements to assess whether excluded communities are benefiting.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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A Policy Perspective on Climate Change and Human Rights

Climate change is a policy issue that is tied to human rights. The physical impacts of climate change include water scarcity, sea-level rise, extreme weather and increased temperatures. All of which are related to the issues of poverty, discrimination and inequality.

Policy perspectives have both legal and moral implications which auger a number of important questions. On this front no concern is more pressing than the impacts of climate change on the human rights of the world's most vulnerable populations. Those who are most at risk from climate change are the poor who live in the developing word.

The conceptual and legal framework for human rights and climate change has been employed by governments, United Nations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, human rights and environmental advocates, and academics.

Guidance on national and international policy on climate change comes from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the core international human rights instruments. In 2008, the International Council on Human Rights also published a guide. Another useful publication is "A Moral Imperative: The Human Rights Implications of Climate Change," by Sara C Aminzadeh.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are directly connected to human rights and related legal protections. The primary mitigation issue involves policies that contribute to reducing emissions and creating a low carbon economy. In addition to domestic adaptation efforts, related policy issues include initiatives to help the developing world. Climate assistance for poorer countries was at the center of the COP 19 climate discussions in Warsaw earlier this year. This includes climate finance, the green climate fund and loss/damage assistance.

In what is known as the Copenhagen Agreement of 2009, countries including the US made commitments to reduce their carbon emissions. American President Barack Obama committed the US to reduce carbon emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, 42 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. Data from an April 2013 report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), showed a 12 percent reduction in the period between 2005 to 2012 (although much of this decline is attributable to the recession).

Legislative efforts to enact climate change policies in the US have been mired in partisan politics. This includes failed attempts to secure a cap-and-trade deal. Nonetheless, in 2013, President Obama advanced a climate action plan and he has used his executive privileges to increase the federal government's use of renewable energy and decrease their carbon footprint. 

While we have yet to make the kind of progress we need, we are nonetheless moving forward on progressive climate change policies in places like Europe and to a lesser extent the US. However, much more will need to be accomplished if we are to address the challenges posed by climate change as it relates to human rights.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Human Rights Day (December 10): Climate Change

The UN's Human Rights Day takes place on December 10, every year. This day will be recognized at the UN headquarters in New York and in 50 countries around the world. In 2013, Human Rights Day is celebrating its 20th anniversary.  The theme this year is 20 YEARS: WORKING FOR YOUR RIGHTS. However, the emphasis is on the future and identifying the challenges that lie ahead.

December 10, 1948 is the date that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaiming its principles as the “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.”

The UN acknowledges that climate change is fundamentally connected to human rights. The UN has provided guidance in the form of international human rights standards which offer measures to tackle climate change.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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World Bank on Human Rights and Climate Change

The World Bank Group is developing a new strategy focused on social equity and environmental sustainability. Under the leadership of Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank is working on a strategy that is focused on equitable and sustainable development including combating climate change and environmentally responsible investing.

The new strategy positions climate change as one of five cross-cutting themes. The institution's two new goals involve ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity by fostering income growth for the poor through the sustainable use and management of natural resources.

With around 10,000 employees worldwide and a budget of more than $30 billion, the World Bank Group has the potential to augur major pro-social changes. However, to be successful the Bank will need to put the necessary human resources in place to review the climate impacts of their investments.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The UN Connects Human Rights and Climate Change

Climate justice is about human rights. A warming planet has implications for everybody but the poor are the most vulnerable. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013 reiterated the findings of previous reports stating with even more scientific certainty that anthropogenic climate change will increase the frequency of extreme weather events, raise sea levels, exacerbate droughts, increase water shortages, and accelerate the spread of diseases.

Consistent with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are morally and legally beholden to the world's poor. 

In an open letter to all Permanent Missions in New York and in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay emphasized the responsibilities all States have to ensure full coherence between efforts to advance the green economy, on the one hand, and their human rights obligations on the other.


The relationship between climate change and human rights was acknowledged in 2008 by the United Nations Human Rights Council in resolution 7/23. This resolution expressed concern that climate change, “poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the word.”

On 25 March 2009, the Council adopted resolution 10/4, which states, “climate change-related impacts have a range of implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights …" This was then followed by a panel discussion on 15 June 2009 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva.

In 2009 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner conducted a study that examined the relationship between climate change and human rights. This report discussed how "observed and projected impacts of climate change have implications for the enjoyment of human rights and for the obligations of States under international human rights law."

In September 2011, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 18/22. This resolution affirmed that "human rights obligations, standards, and principles have the potential to inform and strengthen international and national policy making in the area of climate change, promoting policy coherence, legitimacy, and sustainable outcomes."

Pursuant to resolution 18/22, a seminar was convened in 2012 to address the adverse impacts of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, with a view to "following up on the call for respecting human rights in all climate change-related actions and policies and forging stronger cooperation between the human rights and climate change communities."

A summary report of the seminar was presented at the 18th session of the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP18) in 2012.

In 2012, Rio +20 discussed how to build a green economy to lift people out of poverty without destroying the environment; and how to improve international coordination for sustainable development. This then gave way to making sustainable development goals the replacement for the millennium development goals which are due to expire in 2015.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video - Blog Action Day 2013: Human Rights

In 2013 Blog Action Day will take place on Wednesday October 16. This global event will bring together thousands of bloggers from over a 100 countries to participate in a global conversation about Human Rights. At the Blog Action Day site you can get access to content and ideas to create your own post on October 16.

Click here to register.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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ISO Revisions Seek Overarching Guidance on 14001 Environmental Management Systems and Other ISO Standards

Revisions are being undertaken in ISO 14001 in order to create an overarching format in conformity with Annex SL (previously ISO Guide 83) which defines the framework for a generic management system. This new guidance is holistic and is intended to end conflicts, duplication, confusion and misunderstanding from different MSS management systems. Since being issued in 1996 and then revised in 2004, the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard has been adopted by more than 250,000 organizations around the world.

Annex SL, is described as a “high level structure and identical text for management system standards and common core management system terms and definitions.” Annex SL offers overarching guidance on ISO management system standards (MSS). It is intended to help explain how different standards fit together with minimum redundancy. Annex SL offers a common format, structure and core requirements for ISO 14001, ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and ISO 50001.

ISO's goal in revising its standards is to conform to Annex SL so that standards share a common format. However this is no easy feat as consensus is required from all 130 participating countries. All new ISO MSS will adhere to this framework and all current MSS will migrate at their next revision. In future all ISO MSS should be consistent and compatible.

The ISO Technical Committee (TC) 207 has started the process of revising ISO 14001, with a target of issuing a Final Version in 2015.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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