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Photo: Paolo MacorigDefending Mexico's marine biodiversity from deep sea mining
Each year, thousands of grey whales arrive to give birth to their young in the shelter of Ulloa Bay in Baja California Sur. It is a key location in the specie’s annual migration.
The rich marine ecosystem is also critical to blue whales, humpback whales and other threatened species, such as the loggerhead turtle, which seek food and shelter in the bay. Additionally, it’s home to species of commercial interest, such as clams, lobsters and shrimp.
But a serious threat looms over Ulloa Bay, and the animals and people who depend on its health. The Don Diego mine is set to extract, over 50 years, 350 million tons of phosphate sand from the seabed, in an area equivalent to 60 percent of Mexico City.
The whales and sea turtles that inhabit or transit the area rely on sound to communicate and find food. Large dredging ships used to extract phosphate sand will generate an enormous buzz, altering the environment in ways that modify marine mammal behavior and even threaten species survival.
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To cool the planet, fracking must be prohibited, organizations say
In the framework of COP21, a coalition of Latin American civil society organizations is urging world leaders meeting in Paris to ban fracking in their countries. By emitting large quantities of greenhouse gases, the process itself goes against the central objective of the climate negotiations: stopping global warming. Paris, France. In a public statement directed at Member States of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, organizations and allies of the Latin American Alliance On Fracking asked that all fracking activities be banned due to the fact that, among other impacts, hydraulic fracturing emits greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. During the cycle of extracting, processing, storing, transferring, and distributing unconventional hydrocarbons using fracking, methane gas is released into the atmosphere. Methane is 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as an agent of global warming, the group explained in their statement. The document will be presented this Friday December 11 at 10 a.m. (local time) at the Climate Action Zone by: Alianza Mexicana contra el Fracking; Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad; the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA); Food & Water Watch; Freshwater Action Network Mexico; the Heinrich Böll Foundation – Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean; Instituto Brasileiro de Analises Socias e Economicas (IBASE); and Observatorio Petrolero Sur (OpSur). The organizations discuss the current state of hydraulic fracturing in Latin America. Although the use of the experimental technique is contrary to national and international commitments to reduce emissions, several countries in the region – among them Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia – have begun exploration or exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons through fracking. “Fracking is advancing blindly in Latin America, with no comprehensive long-term studies on the risks and serious damage that it could cause to the health of people and the environment,” said Ariel Pérez Castellón, attorney at AIDA. “Operations of this kind in the region have failed to respect fundamental human rights, including the right to consultation and free, prior and informed consent; the right to participation and social control; and the right to information,” added Milena Bernal, attorney with the Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad. According to the organizations, fracking is advancing quickly into indigenous and rural communities, urban neighborhoods, and even Natural Protected Areas. It has caused the displacement both of people and of productive activities such as farming and agriculture, because their coexistence with this technique is impossible. Rejection of fracking has grown in parallel with its spread in operations. “The proof of this resistance are the national and international networks opposing this technique, including more than 50 municipalities that have banned it in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay,” said Diego di Risio, researcher at Observatorio Petrolero Sur. “As part of our statement, we urge the Member Parties of the Convention to: sign a binding agreement that quickly and effectively reduces greenhouse gases and incorporates human rights into the legal text; apply the precautionary principle to ban fracking; and promote renewable energies and disincentivize the extraction of fossil fuels,” stated Claudia Campero Arena, researcher at Food & Water Watch, and Moema Miranda, director of Ibase. Read the full statement from the Latin American Alliance on Fracking here. Event “The fight against fracking in Latin America: experiences in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico” Simultaneous translation in English and French Friday December 11, 2015 Climate Action Zone Centquatre, 5 rue Curial, Paris (Métro Riquet)
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COP21's International Human Rights Day
Programme of Events - December 10, 2015 10:00 - 10:30 Press Conference (Le Bourget, Hall 5, Press Conf. Room 2). Hosted by Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights. 11:00 - 12:30 Side Event: Fight Climate Change, Eradicate Poverty and Ensure Access to Rights—The Challenge of a Truly Just Transition (Espace Générations Climat, Room 4). Hosted by Secours Catholique - Caritas France and ATD Quart Monde. 11:30 - 13:00 Side Event: Climate Change: One of the Greatest Human Rights Challenges of Our Time (Le Bourget, Hall 4, Observer Room 12). Hosted by the Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group, Geneva Climate Change Concertation Group, CARE International, Center for International Environmental Law, Earthjustice, Franciscans International, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Human Rights Watch. 13:00 - 13:30 Civil Society Action: Stand Up for Human Rights (Le Bourget, TBD). 13:00 - 14:30 Side Event: Climate Change and Human Rights: Focus on Urban Life, Human Rights and Adaptation to Climate Change (Espace Générations Climat, Room 4). Hosted by European Association of Geographers. 15:45 - 17:00 Photo Exhibition and Film Screening: There Is No Time Left: Climate Change and Human Rights in Turkana County, Kenya (Espaces Générations Climat, Round House and Stand A28). Hosted by Human Rights Watch. 17:30 - 19:00 Side Event: Agir Contre le Climat et Promouvoir les Droits Humains: Solutions Pratiques (Espace Générations Climat, Room 1). Hosted by the Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group and Réseau Climat & Développement. 18:30 - 21:00 Human Rights Day Celebration (Point Ephemere, 200 quai de Valmy 75010 Paris). Hosted by the Tri-Caucus, Accra Caucus, Geneva Group, Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group, Indigenous Peoples Caucus, and REDD+ Safeguards Working Group.
Read moreA Human Rights Based Approach to Climate in Latin America
By María José Veramendi Villa, AIDA senior attorney, and Camila Bustos, Nivela lead researcher A few days before the beginning of the climate negotiations in Paris, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights submitted an official document to the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on “Understanding human rights and climate change”. For many, the link between these two remains unclear. Aren’t there already other international agreements that discuss this issue in depth? What is the point of including human rights language in a climate change agreement? The link between human rights and climate change has been recognized long ago by the UN Human Rights Council, which has passed several resolutions to bring attention to this issue. Several countries are already feeling the impacts of climate change: rising sea levels, droughts, extreme weather events and floods among other disasters are becoming increasingly common. Latin America and the Caribbean is one the most vulnerable regions to climate change. People and communities across the region are suffering from devastating impacts such as the melting of glaciers in the Andes, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification. Many face the risk of losing their traditional livelihoods and being displaced. The impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights in Latin America have been thoroughly documented by the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense in its 2011 report on Climate Change and Human Rights. One of the most shocking impacts includes the drastic reduction to water in the region. By the year 2025, melting glaciers, the degradation of wetlands, intense droughts and erratic meteorological patterns will limit access to water to more than 50 million people in the tropical Andean region. Other anticipated effects include flooding and changing rain patterns. In Colombia, flooding affected more than 2.2 million people and cost $300 million USD in 2010 alone. In the transition to a low-carbon and resilient economy, countries are already working to design and implement projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect citizens from climate change impacts. A reference to human rights in the operational section of the agreement can ensure that human rights are taken into account in the process of developing and implementing climate policies. This is why: It will raise the ambition and strengthen the agreement promoting an implementation that will ensure that parties comply with their already existing human rights obligations. It will support the goals of the agreement by preventing discrimination, exclusion and inequality. The affected communities have to have a say in the policies and projects designed to help them. It will not create additional obligations, but ensure that there is coherence in the international regime. Parties are already obliged to comply with other human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As the world turns its attention to Paris, we cannot forget to humanize climate change and remember that those who have contributed to the least to the problem are and will continue to be the most affected. If we want to ensure a livable planet for the future generations the new climate agreement must include the respect, protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights. We call on all State Parties and specially those of our Latin American region to support the inclusion of human rights protections in the agreement.
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