Environmental threats fuel tensions in societies, exacerbate inequalities, and have other dire consequences, especially for developing countries. This was stated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
Environment & Quality of Human Life
The UN representative believes that the “triple planetary crisis” – the loss of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change – violates human rights (to proper nutrition, development, health, and life).
“A safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is fundamental to human life,” said Bachelet.
According to the UN High Commissioner, significant forest fires, large-scale floods, drought can potentially lead to poverty, hunger, and the displacement of millions of people.
Bachelet cited water scarcity in Central Asia as an example of the impact of climate change on human rights. “Currently, water shortages are leading to irrigation interruptions and crop losses, leading to food shortages,” Bachelet warned. She added that farmers who do not receive sufficient support from the state are the first to suffer.
Natural Disasters caused by Humans
Earlier, the UN University published a study that indicates that record-breaking natural disasters occurred due to human actions or inaction. The authors analyzed the 10 most significant cataclysms and disasters in the last two years, including wildfires in the Amazon, heat waves in the Arctic, floods in Vietnam, cyclone Amphan and freezing in Texas.
Experts have become firmly convinced that natural disasters are caused by three main factors:
- anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases,
- inadequate risk management of natural disasters, and
- underestimation of environmental threats when making important decisions.
Two million people have died due to global warming in the past 50 years.
At the same time, the annual number of victims of climate change is gradually decreasing.
The death toll from disasters has reached over two million people in the world since 1964. It is predicted that this number will only increase as climate change continues to occur and affect different regions around our planet Earth more drastically than ever before
Mentioning some events such as droughts, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc., which have caused deaths because they are related to weather conditions. The world economy has lost $ 3.64 trillion during this time.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
WMO experts concluded that the number of natural hazards increases every year due to the inevitable climate change. In 1970-2019, over 11 thousand disasters occurred in the world. More than 90% of deaths occurred in developing countries. In the first place, in terms of the number of victims are droughts (650 thousand people), in the second – storms (577 thousand), in third – floods (58 thousand).
In April 2021, an international climate summit was held. US President Joe Biden proposed to hold a meeting of world leaders. This initiative was supported by his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin. In his speech at the online summit, Putin noted that climate change is a global problem, and no country can cope alone. He called on all interested partners to invest in significant projects for sustainable development as well-powered countries may not be able to withstand any extreme weather events due to this issue.
It is important for each and every nation to come together to curb this menace of climate change.