Yachats City Council is the first municipality to endorse the “Draft Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change” developed by The Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment (GNHRE).
Yachatian, Dr. Tom Kerns, Director, Environmental and Human Rights Advisory; Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, North Seattle College, USA served on the drafting group.
Dr. Kerns stated in his presentation to the Yachats City Council that “The GNHRE issued this call to action for governments around the world in a Draft Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change (The Declaration) ahead of the Paris Climate Summit beginning on 30 November. The Declaration outlines a crucial shift in the way that states should respond to climate change.
The Declaration was drafted by GNHRE scholars and experts from all over the world. Combining new thinking and existing international human rights law, the Declaration presents an alternative formulation of rights that foregrounds human rights while simultaneously protecting the rights of nonhuman persons and living systems from climate harms. The Declaration is intended to be a practical, thought provoking and nuanced challenge designed to transform the climate debate.
The Declaration addresses the structural unfairness in current patterns of vulnerability to climate change and the need to address the limitations of market based approaches to the climate challenge, and was delivered ahead of Paris COP21 in the hope that this timely and necessary intervention gains the full and serious consideration it deserves”.
Individuals and organizations can also endorse this Declaration by going to: http://gnhre.org/category/news/ where you can read the Full Text of the Declaration.
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