Climate Change, Human Rights and Moral Thresholds

In Stephen Humphreys, Human Rights and Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. pp. 69-90. (2010)
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Abstract

This essay examines the relationship between climate change and human rights. It argues that climate change is unjust, in part, because it jeopardizes several core rights – including the right to life, the right to food and the right to health. It then argues that adopting a human rights framework has six implications for climate policies. To give some examples, it argues that this helps us to understand the concept of “dangerous anthropogenic interference” (UNFCCC, Article 2). In addition to this, it argues that if we adopt a human rights framework then any climate policies should also honour human rights, and so mitigation policies, for example, should not compromise people’s enjoyment of their human rights. A third implication, I argue, is that in addition to duties of mitigation and adaptation there will also be – if rights are violated – duties of compensation too.

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Simon Caney
University of Warwick

Citations of this work

Climate Change and Individual Duties to Reduce GHG Emissions.Christian Baatz - 2014 - Ethics, Policy and Environment 17 (1):1-19.
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Does anthropogenic climate change violate human rights?Derek Bell - 2011 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 14 (2):99-124.
Justice and the distribution of greenhouse gas emissions.Simon Caney - 2009 - Journal of Global Ethics 5 (2):125-146.
Climate Change Justice.Darrel Moellendorf - 2015 - Philosophy Compass 10 (3):173-186.

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