“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.

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“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.

“Amnesty International and Greenpeace International: The human rights consequences of failure are stark. Up to an additional 600 million people could face hunger by 2080 due to climate change.” (Joint Statement: Greenpeace – Amnesty International. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: The above mentioned numbers are estimations. Currently a significant amount of food production is been thrown away, according to a number of sources, including FAO  (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). As a report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers  reveals, currently at least 50% of all food produced worldwide is wasted, i.e. thrown away. In Finland alone, more than 120 million kilos of food is being thrown away by households annually, with a total of more than 400 million kilos of food waste throughout the Finnish society, an average of more than 23 kilos of food waste per citizen. (Saa syödä! 2017). Overweight and obesity have become larger problems than hunger and malnutrition in majority of countries worldwide. Nevertheless, with a rapidly growing world population, the FAO estimates that food production would have to increase with up to 70 % by 2050.

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 – thank you.

“Amnesty International and Greenpeace International: All states have obligations under international human rights law to prevent harm to human rights, including the rights to life, to housing, food, water, sanitation and to a healthy environment.” (Joint Statement: Greenpeace – Amnesty International. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: Access to clean, fresh water is a basic human right. In Finland, water management/treatment is on such a high level that it is safe across the whole country to drink tap water. Nevertheless, many people still prefer to filter even our clean tap water, since they feel that tap water may still include residues from e.g. fluorine, medical waste and so on. Of course we have bottled water, both still and sparking, for sale in groceries, but there is no real need to consume bottled water unless someone prefers to do so.

The situation with fresh water around the world is problematic in many areas/regions, with a lack of access to clean water. E.g. according to the WWF, water scarcity affects at least 1.1 billion people around the world on a regular basis, and up to 2.7 billion people lack access to clean, fresh water during some periods in a calendar year. 1.1 respectively 2.7 billion are high numbers, taking into consideration that world population is currently at 7.5 billion people, with an estimation of up to 10 billion by 2050. With all the resources and technologies available today, it is difficult to understand why we have not yet been capable of solving the global clean water problem.

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys and 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 and Greenpeace close the gap between climate change and human rights.”

(Greenpeace Press release. December 8th 2015).

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Note from author: Co-operation between organizations is becoming increasingly commonplace especially since there is an interrelatedness between climate change, human rights, health factors and so on. The consequences of climate change are leading to a domino effect where natural disasters cause problems in all areas of life on earth.

Connect with me on Twitter @annemariayritys – for climate-related posts only @GCCThinkActTank – subscribe to my articles/posts to receive them delivered directly to you. Thank you.