View previous stories
	The impacts of climate change on the human rights to water and sanitation by Pedro Arrojo-Agudo Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation   Jan. 2022   The world is facing a global water crisis, and climate change is exacerbating this crisis. It is widely understood and acknowledged that climate change arises as a consequence of the massive emission of greenhouse gases, and therefore no one doubts that mitigation strategies must be led by the energy transition.   However, it is rarely explained that the main socio-economic impacts are generated around water: in fact, about 90 per cent of natural disasters are water-related. Therefore, adaptation strategies must be based on a hydrological transition that strengthens environmental and social resilience in the face of climate change.   On the one hand, it is urgent to recover the health of wetlands and underground aquifers - true natural lungs of the water cycle - which can and should be strategic reserves for increasingly severe droughts.   On the other hand, it is a matter of strengthening democratic governance of water and sanitation services as well as aquatic ecosystems in the face of these droughts, with adaptation plans that prioritize the human rights to drinking water and sanitation, particularly for those living in poverty and vulnerable situations and that have been adapted and implemented with the participation of the affected population.   The current report is part of three special thematic reports issued by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. The current report aims to outline how climate change will impact the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and to describe the main trends in those impacts by region. The second report explores the impacts of climate change on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation of specific groups, and the third outlines a human rights approach to climate adaptation, mitigation, financing and cooperation.   Climate change and water and sanitation   The IPCC introduces several impacts of climate change on hydrological systems across the world. Some of those impacts are illustrated in the current report. First, climate change is projected to reduce renewable surface water and groundwater resources significantly in most arid and semi-arid regions.   It has been estimated that about 8 per cent of the global population will see a severe reduction in water resources with a 1°C rise in the global mean temperature, the estimation rising to 14 per cent with a 2°C rise.   Second, precipitation variability will increase – , which means, on the one hand, growing risks of heavy rainfall and storms, with stronger river flood peaks, higher flood risks and intensified soil erosion; and on the other hand, more intense and longer droughts.   Third, climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme events, including cyclones, hurricanes, and monsoons, destroying local water and sanitation infrastructure. Fourth, sea-level rise is predicted to increase the salinization of coastal aquifers.   Finally, the temperature rise will lead to increase in evapotranspiration of vegetation, reducing river flows and favouring the concentration of contaminants in water and the biological processes of eutrophication of water bodies.   The hydrological impacts of climate change cannot be divorced from the socio-economic context in which they occur. The severity of climate change impacts depends on the scale of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods or hurricanes, on the one hand, and on the level of vulnerability of communities, on the other.   For example, the massive migration accelerated by climate change and informal settlement in flood-prone areas on urban peripheries increase urban vulnerability to flooding. Similarly, vulnerability to the risks of drought is multiplied in territories where aquifers and rivers are overexploited in normal years.   Global water use has increased by a factor of six over the past 100 years and continues to grow steadily at a rate of about 1 per cent per year as a result of increasing population.   Above all, the prevailing economic development model and consumption patterns are driving increases in water consumption. This growth in demand and future use expectations makes us increasingly vulnerable to the reduction in river flows and infiltration into aquifers that climate change imposes.   Climate change increases poverty as it hits hardest those living in the most vulnerable situations, but at the same time poverty generates greater vulnerability to climate change. This perverse circle threatens to trigger the violation of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation among the most impoverished and those living in situations and territories most vulnerable to the risks of drought or flooding, as well as rising sea levels, as a result of climate change..   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/world-must-end-overexploitation-groundwater-says-un-expert http://www.unicef.org/stories/water-and-climate-change-10-things-you-should-know Visit the related web page
	Safe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded by Stockholm Resilience Centre, agencies   Jan. 2022   Safe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded, say researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre   There has been a 50-fold increase in the production of chemicals since 1950. This is projected to triple again by 2050.   For the first time, an international team of researchers has assessed the impact on the stability of the Earth system of the cocktail of synthetic chemicals and other “novel entities” flooding the environment.   The 14 scientists conclude in the scientific journal Environmental Science and Technology that humanity has exceeded a planetary boundary related to environmental pollutants including plastics.   “There has been a 50-fold increase in the production of chemicals since 1950. This is projected to triple again by 2050,” says co-author Patricia Villarubia-Gómez from the Stockholm Resilience Centre.   Plastic production alone increased 79% between 2000 and 2015, the team reports.   The pace that societies are producing and releasing new chemicals and other novel entities into the environment is not consistent with staying within a safe operating space for humanity.   There are an estimated 350,000 different types of manufactured chemicals on the global market. These include plastics, pesticides, industrial chemicals, chemicals in consumer products, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. These are all wholly novel entities, created by human activities with largely unknown effects on the Earth system. Significant volumes of these novel entities enter the environment each year.   “The rate at which these pollutants are appearing in the environment far exceeds the capacity of governments to assess global and regional risks, let alone control any potential problems,” says co-author Bethanie Carney Almroth from the University of Gothenburg.   The research fills an important gap in analysis of “planetary boundaries”.   In 2009, an international team of researchers identified nine planetary boundaries that demarcate the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years - since the dawn of civilization. These boundaries include greenhouse gas emissions, the ozone layer, forests, freshwater and biodiversity.   The researchers quantified the boundaries that influence Earth’s stability, and concluded in 2015 that four boundaries have been breached. But the boundary for novel entities was one of two boundaries that remained unquantified. This new research takes this a step further.   Overwhelming evidence   The researchers say there are many ways that chemicals and plastics have negative effects on planetary health, from mining, fracking and drilling to extract raw materials to production and waste management.   “Some of these pollutants can be found globally, from the Arctic to Antarctica, and can be extremely persistent. We have overwhelming evidence of negative impacts on Earth systems, including biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles,” says Carney Almroth.   Global production and consumption of novel entities is set to continue to grow. The total mass of plastics on the planet is now over twice the mass of all living mammals, and roughly 80% of all plastics ever produced remain in the environment.   Plastics contain over 10,000 other chemicals, so their environmental degradation creates new combinations of materials – and unprecedented environmental hazards. Production of plastics is set to increase and predictions indicate that the release of plastic pollution to the environment will rise too, despite huge efforts in many countries to reduce waste.   Shifting to circular economy   The researchers conclude that current increasing trends of chemical production and release put the health of the Earth system at risk. The authors call for actions to reduce the production and release of pollutants.   “We need to be working towards implementing a fixed cap on chemical production and release,” says Carney Almroth.   “And shifting to a circular economy is really important. That means changing materials and products so they can be reused not wasted, designing chemicals and products for recycling, and much better screening of chemicals for their safety and sustainability along their whole impact pathway in the Earth system”, adds Sarah Cornell from the Stockholm Resilience Centre.   http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2022-01-18-safe-planetary-boundary-for-pollutants-including-plastics-exceeded-say-researchers.html http://eia-international.org/news/plastic-pollutions-deadly-ticking-clock-a-dire-emergency-for-people-and-the-planet/ http://www.unep.org/resources/pollution-solution-global-assessment-marine-litter-and-plastic-pollution http://www.beyondplastics.org/plastics-and-climate http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Environment/SRToxicsandhumanrights/Pages/Index.aspx http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12816 http://www.ciel.org/news/over-700-groups-call-for-an-international-plastics-treaty/ http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/22/microplastics-revealed-in-placentas-unborn-babies   Jan. 2022   The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment: non-toxic environment, report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment.   Pervasive pollution and toxic contamination of people and the planet. While the climate emergency, the global biodiversity crisis and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic garner headlines, the devastating toll inflicted upon health, human rights and ecosystem integrity by pollution and hazardous substances continues to be largely overlooked. Yet pollution and toxic substances cause at least 9 million premature deaths, double the number of deaths inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic during its first 18 months.   One in six deaths in the world involves diseases caused by pollution, three times more than deaths from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined and 15 times more than from all wars, murders and other forms of violence. Air pollution is the largesenvironmental contributor to premature deaths, causing an estimated 7 million annually.   Low- and middle-income countries bear the brunt of pollution-related illnesses, with nearly 92 per cent of pollution-related deaths. Over 750,000 workers die annually because of exposure to toxic substances on the job, including particulate matter, asbestos, arsenic and diesel exhaust.   The toxification of planet Earth is intensifying. While a few toxic substances have been banned or are being phased out, the overall production, use and disposal of hazardous chemicals continues to increase rapidly.   Hundreds of millions of tons of toxic substances are released into air, water and soil annually. Production of chemicals doubled between 2000 and 2017, and is expected to double again by 2030 and triple by 2050, with the majority of growth in non-members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD).   According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the result of this growth will be increased exposure and worsening health and environmental impacts unless ambitious, urgent and worldwide collaborative action is taken by all stakeholders and in all countries: http://undocs.org/A/HRC/49/53 Visit the related web page
	View more stories