“Amnesty International and Greenpeace International: States must abide by their human rights obligations in all aspects related to climate change. They must end all forms of discrimination and guarantee gender equality; guarantee the right to information; ensure the right to participation of affected people; and ensure the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.” (Joint Statement: Greenpeace – Amnesty International. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: In (Western) democracies, citizens are used to freedom of speech, which is, however, not the case in many countries around the world. According to a survey conducted by PEW RESEARCH CENTER in 2015 (Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey) and with reference to an article with these indicators/results published by the The World Economic Forum (WEF), the United States ranks as number 1. globally regarding freedom of speech. Where Finland and the other Nordic countries rank according to this particular survey from 2015 is unclear. Furthermore, according to Reporters Without Borders´ Press Freedom Index 2013, Finland ranks as the best nation in the world when it comes to press and speech freedom. As a citizen of a county where you can freely and safely express yourself, it is not always easy to understand how different the situation is in many other countries around the world.

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys – for climate-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank & to receive my articles/posts delivered personally to you, do subscribe to my newsletter at Leading With Passion – thank you.

“Amnesty International and Greenpeace International: Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.” (Joint Statement: Greenpeace – Amnesty International. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: The in/direct causes of climate change are manifold, one event leading to another, like a domino effect as I wrote in one of my previous posts. Extreme heat waves, for example, pose an increased risk for people who already are suffering from some disease, e.g. those with cardiovascular problems. For example this report: Heat-waves: risks and responses, published by the WHO, suggests that high air temperatures can affect human health, possibly leading to additional deaths even during current climatic conditions.

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys – for climate-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank & to receive my articles/posts delivered to you personally, do subscribe to my newsletter at Leading With Passion

“Amnesty International and Greenpeace International: With the impacts of climate change rapidly enfolding, the risk of displacement may soon reach catastrophic proportions – storms, floods, sea level rise, droughts, will impact an even larger number of people, all around the world.” (Joint Statement: Greenpeace – Amnesty International. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: When I drafted this post about a month ago (created an illustrated presentation about climate change using a number of sources, including Amnesty International and Greenpeace International), there were yet no signs of hurricanes Harvey or Irma, that hit coastal areas in Texas, U.S.A., the Caribbean and Florida hard in the past three weeks. Natural disasters are more common in some places around the world. These have a common denomination: climate hot spots.

What we witnessed in 2004 in South East Asia, perhaps the worst tsunami throughout history of mankind, hit not only a number of countries in South East Asia including Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, but also affected many countries indirectly, especially with all the tourists visiting the countries that were hit by the massive tsunami in 2004 that caused at least 250.000 human deaths, and who knows how many animals on land, and underwater. The lessons learned from this catastrophic event that shocked everyone around the world included the fact that the countries that were hit by the tsunami, since then introduced early warning systems. Nevertheless, rebuilding a society after a major natural disaster takes time, and we can only guess what kinds of traumas these kinds of events leave in people.

Nothing in comparison with the South East Asian tsunami in 2004, we experience more and more floods and rain in Europe too. In 2016, a good old friend of mine who lives in Germany, personally told me about floods in Nordrhein-Westfalen, and how devastated citizens were since they felt that they did not receive the support they needed from the state. In Finland too, we have had increasingly much rain, wind, and floods this year. So far it seems like this is no major problem, but if glaciers keep melting at the current pace, causing more rainfall around the world, what can we expect?

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys – for climate-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank – to receive my articles/posts delivered personally to you, do subscribe to my newsletter at Leading With Passion – looking forward to receiving your comments and feedback. Thank you.