Project
Photo: UNFCCCMonitoring the UN Climate Negotiations
As changes in climate become more extreme, their affects are being hardest felt throughout developing countries. Since 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has laid out actions to limit the increase of global average temperatures and confront the impacts of climate change.
The States that are Parties to the Convention meet every year in the so-called Conference of the Parties (COP) to review their commitments, the progress made in fulfilling them, and pending challenges in the global fight against the climate crisis.
At COP21 in 2015, they adopted the Paris Agreement, which seeks to strengthen the global response to the climate emergency, establishing a common framework for all countries to work on the basis of their capacities and through the presentation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) that will:
- Limit the increase in global temperatures to 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels and continue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C;
- Increase the capacity of countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change; and
- Ensure that financing responds to the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Our focus areas
THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
The climate crisis, due to its transversal character, has repercussions in various fields, geographies, contexts and people. In this regard, the Preamble to the Paris Agreement states that it is the obligation of States to "respect, promote and fulfill their respective obligations on human rights, the right to health, the rights of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, children, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations and the right to development, as well as gender equality, the empowerment of women and intergenerational equity."
AIDA at the COP
COP25: Chile-Madrid 2019
At COP25 in Madrid, Spain, we advocated for the inclusion of the human rights perspective in various agenda items. We promoted the incorporation of broad socio-environmental safeguards in the regulation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which refers to carbon markets. We closely followed the adoption of the Gender Action Plan, as well as the Santiago Network, created "to catalyze technical assistance […] in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse affects of climate change." We also encouraged the inclusion of ambitious and measurable targets for the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants in the climate commitments of States.
Related projects
"Water is worth more than lithium": Resistance against an unjust energy transition
"Water is worth more than lithium" is the slogan under which social organizations, trade unions and indigenous peoples have been expressing their resistance against the constitutional reform in Jujuy, a province in northern Argentina. They claim that this reform, promoted by Governor Gerardo Morales, doesn’t respect international regulations on the rights of indigenous peoples, including Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), which establishes the right to free, prior and informed consultation of peoples on projects to be developed in their ancestral territories. In this sense, this reform would have been approved on June 16, in a short process that didn’t allow for broad public participation and deliberation and in which there was no proper consultation with indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the constitutional text represents a significant step backwards on environmental and human rights issues; it also opens the doors to mega-mining -including lithium mining- under the guise of energy transition, criminalizes protests and allows the privatization of both water and indigenous lands. Indigenous communities have claimed that the indiscriminate advancement of lithium mining projects in the province will exacerbate the water crisis currently affecting the area. With increasing international demand for lithium - considered a strategic resource due to its energy storage capacity (useful for the battery and electric vehicle industries) - global mining and production has accelerated in recent years, with a focus on regions rich in the mineral, such as the Andean salt flats of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, where more than 53% of the world's proven reserves are located. Lithium is found in brines, pegmatites and sedimentary rocks, although it’s easier to from the former. However, extraction requires large quantities of water and takes place in fragile ecosystems such as salt flats, which suffer from water-deficiency and are severely affected by the impacts of the climate crisis. The social resistance to the constitutional reform in Jujuy is also a resistance to a global trend that, in the name of an energy transition that is far from being just, seeks to perpetuate extractivist models that violate human rights. Human rights violations in Jujuy AIDA - along with seven other civil society organizations with extensive experience in environmental and human rights defense - was part of an international mission that visited Jujuy from 21 to 25 August to learn first-hand about possible violations of the right to protest and participation in the context of the constitutional reform. The mission visited the main protest centers and documented testimonies from people from indigenous groups and communities, farmers' associations, trade unions and human rights organizations, as well as social leaders, teachers, lawyers and provincial authorities. Preliminary conclusions indicate that: Even when indigenous peoples and their communities demanded participation in the constitutional reform, it was carried out without an exhaustive deliberative process. Despite climate crisis and water scarcity, the reform doesn’t properly address integrated basin management and ecosystems conservation. The reform seems to favor large-scale industrial, agricultural and livestock use of water resources and opens the doors to concessions that can lead the privatization of water, damaging ecosystem cycles and failing to protect small-scale agriculture and livestock, vital to the existence of native communities. There is a repeated and manifest concern from indigenous communities about the negative impacts of mining, particularly lithium extraction projects. Testimonies report cases of repression of social protest, arbitrary arrests, harassment and alleged torture by the police of people involved in resistance, as well as disproportionate use of force. The mission is currently systematizing the information collected in order to prepare recommendations oriented that will highlight the complex situation in the province of Jujuy and contribute to a dialog that will allow for a better resolution of the social conflict and respect for human rights. What kind of transition does the constitutional reform in Jujuy point to? Addressing this question is important to understand that a just energy transition is incompatible with a context in which private economic interests prevail over social and environmental considerations, and in which government actions ignore the impacts of lithium extraction and the legitimate claims of local communities to manage their water and territory. Jujuy is home to over 12 indigenous peoples and around 400 communities -whose members have dedicated for millennia to salt extraction in Salinas Grandes, the fourth largest salt flat in South America. Their connection to water is sacred and ancient. It’s a cultural connection that is threatened by the exploitation of lithium, which jeopardizes the availability of an extremely scarce resource. "To extract one ton of lithium (through evaporation), 2 million liters of water are evaporated from the wells, that is, 2000 tons of water that cannot be re-circulated," says Ingrid Garcés, professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Mineral Processes at the University of Antofagasta, Chile. This "is profitable for the industry because it means a process without energy costs, but unfortunately it has the cost of losing water from a system that is not renewable, especially in a desert region" (like the salt flats). The constitutional reform in Jujuy doesn’t stipulate an order of priority for water use, but puts human and industrial consumption on the same level. Limited access to water is a central concern in the province, as there are few groundwater resources to meet the demand for water for human and domestic use, as well as for small-scale agricultural and livestock production. An urgent change of course The water crisis is one of the most pressing crises worldwide and is intrinsically linked to the climate crisis and the need to switch to alternative energy production. Extreme weather patterns - such as prolonged droughts, floods and more intense storms – have a direct impact on the availability and distribution of water in different regions of the world, leading to a decline in water resources. In this scenario, competition for water use intensifies and requires social water management for the benefit of communities. This is the only way to address the situation in terms of sustainability and environmental justice. The extraction of lithium to satisfy corporate interests is an example of the paradox that tackling the climate crisis comes at the expense of communities and ecosystems. The lack of fair and equitable distribution of benefits and the externalization of environmental and social costs underscores the urgency to rethink and radically transform our relationship with natural resources and the way we address the climate crisis.
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What makes a litigation a climate litigation?
According to a recent report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), climate litigation has doubled worldwide in recent years and has become an important and increasingly popular tool for tackling the climate crisis. Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted in its sixth report that there is now "a growing academic consensus suggesting that climate litigation has become a powerful force in climate governance". Climate litigation is indeed an integral part of the activists' toolkit for promoting climate action. And it is children, youth, indigenous peoples, civil society organizations, women and local communities who have taken the lead in bringing these legal actions. Climate litigation is, at its core, strategic litigation, which means it seeks far-reaching changes in society that go beyond a specific case. Typically, this is achieved by promoting the protection of rights or changes in public policy. Such litigations hold governments, public authorities, companies and other non-state actors accountable in court for the climate crisis and oblige them, among other things, to adopt, implement and gradually increase concrete measures to reduce their emissions and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. Over a year ago, AIDA launched the Climate Litigation Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean, a reference website that collects cases of climate litigation in the region. The goal is to promote the exchange of diverse experiences in order to strengthen cases in favor of necessary structural changes. The Platform contains systematized and updated information on litigations filed before any jurisdictional authority (judicial, administrative, international or autonomous). It contains the arguments supporting the cases, related to the legal obligations of States and other actors in the face of the climate crisis. It also contains cases that, while not directly related to the climate crisis, contribute to the pursuit of climate justice on the continent. And this is where confusion and questions arise: what makes a litigation a climate litigation? The truth is that there is no accepted definition to determine which litigation is climate and which is not. It is a relatively new niche in the field of environmental law and -as with many things in life, it has blurred edges. The fact is that our planet is suffering from multiple crises, all of which are interconnected and closely linked to environmental degradation. In this sense, it is almost always possible to link environmental litigations, in some way or another, to the changing climate. In any case, and with the aim of stimulating a discussion on this subject, we venture here to reflect on possible definitions that shed light and allow us to delimit this concept that is gaining so much relevance. An approach to climate litigation and its elements One way to approach the question of what makes a litigation a climate litigation is to say that a climate litigation is any litigation that contains arguments related to the climate crisis in its claim or in the sentence that resolves it. Another approach concerns the purpose of the litigation, whereby to say that climate litigation is any litigation relating to climate action. It implies a high complexity and a wide variety of cases, many of which are intertwined. Under this definition, for example, there would be cases that: Seek to mitigate emissions of pollutants that cause global warming. Demand the states to comply (or increase) their international climate commitments. Promote measures to adapt to the unavoidable effects of climate crisis. Demand reparations for damages caused by the climate crisis. Aim to ensure that companies are held accountable for their contribution to the problem. Pursue policies or regulatory changes in favor of climate action. Demand transparency or accountability of government or corporate actions related to the climate crisis. Request that financial institutions raise their standards to take climate and the environment into account in their decision-making. Seek to stop any project that could harm the climate. Aim to protect ecosystems, especially those that act as natural carbon sinks. In some cases, they seek to raise public awareness of issues related to the climate crisis. Climate litigation: A living and ever-growing tool As can be seen, the variety of cases that can be labeled as climate litigation is enormous and almost as great as the creativity of the people who are implementing this tool. What is interesting is that- despite being a fairly new concept - climate litigation builds on itself. The longer we use it, the more the courts will be involved in examining the obligations of companies and states towards climate action, and the more we will generate more useful jurisprudence, capacities and experiences to move forward. National and international law is strengthened by the use of climate litigation and it is important to keep it alive and growing -and to link it to the responsibility of States and corporations to address the climate crisis- on the basis of the universal human right to a healthy environment. It is important to clarify that strategic litigation -whether climate or environmental- is challenging, complex and expensive. It requires time, resources, skills and commitment. The decision to initiate a climate litigation is not one to be taken lightly. It is often not the best option to achieve a goal. But we can say -with certainty- that it is a key tool in climate action, that has allowed the voices of highly vulnerable and often invisible people and groups to be heard in the forums where decisions are made, where justice is done. It is also the last instance of play in the institutional and legal sphere. Visit the Climate Litigation Platform for Latin America and the Caribbean
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High court orders Colombian government to adopt concrete actions for climate crisis mitigation and adaptation
After evidencing that the Ministry of Environment failed to comply with climate obligations contained in the national legislation, the State Council ordered the entity to take concrete measures to meet these commitments within one year. This is the final decision in the litigation filed by various stakeholders demanding the State to include the climate impact of the coal sector in its climate crisis management. The State Council ordered the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development to adopt, within one year, specific measures to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis in order to fulfill part of the country's climate commitments. With this ruling, the High Court resolved a compliance action filed on May of this year by a coalition of civil society organizations, think tanks and universities to require the State to include the impacts of the coal production chain in the climate policy.In the decision, the State Council acknowledges the Ministry's failure to comply with the norms to include climate impacts in projects with environmental management and control instruments, the lack of regulations regarding emissions from the coal sector, and the absence of a report and evaluation of the impact of the implementation of nature-based solutions programs and projects.Although the decision could have been more ambitious by also recognizing other alleged non-compliances that were proved in the litigation, the high court issued four fundamental orders to be complied by the Ministry of Environment:Inclusion of climate change adaptation and mitigation considerations in the environmental management and control instruments of projects, emphasizing the quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the contributions of environmental compensation measures to the Nationally Determined Contributions, submitted by the State to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.Adopt a national guideline for formulating, developing, monitoring, reporting and evaluating the impact of implementing nature-based solutions programs and projects. This must include climate change management, integration with an ecosystem approach, contributions to the economy, benefits to biodiversity and human communities.Determining the methodologies for calculating direct and indirect emissions that must be reported, the methods, tools, processes and periodicity of reporting on GHG emissions, and the information and documentation required for GHG inventories.Regulation of the conditions for the verification, certification and registration of GHG emissions, emission reductions and removals as well as determination of the follow-up and control procedures foreseen. Based on the result, this litigation is the first successful case of strategic and climate litigation in the continent, as it was possible to prove that the State failed to comply to specific climate commitments, and has succeeded to order to one of the competent authorities to adopt concrete actions for appropriate climate management. The strategy employed and the precedent achieved can well be replicated in other countries in the region.The enforcement action was filed with the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca by the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective, Censat Agua Viva, Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular, POLEN Transiciones Justas, Universidad de Magdalena and researcher Paola Yanguas.In July, the court issued the first-instance ruling in this case. In it, it issued eight orders requiring not only the Ministry of Environment—but also the Ministry of Mines and Energy—to comply with Law 1931 of 2018 and Law 2165 of 2021, which set out the minimum actions that Colombia must take to meet its climate commitments at international level.This litigation showed that over the last six years, the government has omitted the obligations contained in these laws, particularly in relation to the climate impact caused by the coal sector.The case was subsequently referred to the State Council, whose final decision confirmed part of the ruling of the Administrative Court of Cundinamarca.As the largest coal exporter in Latin America, Colombia is obliged to include in its climate commitments the true extent of the impact of the coal sector. This was demanded by the communities of La Guajira, which have been directly affected for decades.Although these communities did not sign the litigation, they sponsored it and accompanied its presentation with traditional dance and music. Press contact:Víctor Quintanilla-Sangueza (Mexico), AIDA, [email protected], +521 5570522107
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