Global Plastics Treaty: Opportunity to Protect Rights
Human Rights Watch, 23 Nov 2022
Governments attending negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty should ensure that the new treaty protects human rights throughout the plastic life cycle, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a question-and-answer document about the human rights impacts of plastic production, use, and disposal. Governments are to meet in Punta del Este, Uruguay, beginning in November 2022, for a first round of talks on the treaty.
Larger fires, heavier rains forecast in Australia as world warms
AlJazeera, 23 Nov 2022
Greenhouse gases have caused Australia’s climate to warm up by about 1.47 degrees Celsius (2.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over the past century, according to a new government report, resulting in larger and more frequent fires, heavier rainfall and flash floods, as well as an increase in mass coral bleaching events.
2022 Amazon fires tightly tied to recent deforestation, new data show
Mongabay, 22 Nov 2022
This year’s Amazon fire season was milder than the previous two years, but there were still nearly 1,000 major fires, many of them in recently cleared areas in the Brazilian Amazon, highlighting a key link between deforestation and fires.
In war-torn states hurt by climate, scant hope for new funds
AlJazeera, 22 Nov 2022
In conflict-ravaged nations such as Yemen and Somalia, devastating floods and droughts kill hundreds of people and uproot tens of thousands from their homes. These countries and many others in the Middle East and Africa have been plunged into turmoil and wars for several years. Now climate change is an added disaster for those already struggling for survival.
COP27: Loss and Damage fund is welcome but failure to deliver on phasing out fossil fuels is a huge setback
Amnesty International, 21 Nov 2022
Reacting to the outcome of COP27, Chiara Liguori, Amnesty International’s Climate Justice Adviser said: “This was a tale of two COPs: joy at the adoption of a Loss and Damage fund but anguish that, despite overwhelming scientific evidence and escalating human rights impacts, the negotiations failed to secure vital commitments on the phasing out of all fossil fuels, which are the number one driver of the climate crisis.”
Rights experts decry harassment of activists attending COP27
UN News, 18 Nov 2022
Independent human rights experts are in dialogue with Egyptian and UN authorities over the harassment of civil society representatives at the COP27 climate change conference, according to a statement issued on Friday. Climate activists and civil society have been subjected to intimidation, harassment and surveillance during the two-week gathering, held in the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, they reported.
