From the COVID-19 pandemic to the raging wildfires in Australia and the U.S., scientific evidence shows an increase in planetary environmental emergencies that pose a risk to Canadian and global communities.
From the COVID-19 pandemic to the raging wildfires in Australia and the U.S., scientific evidence shows an increase in planetary environmental emergencies that pose a risk to Canadian and global communities.
While many countries recognize the right to a healthy environment through constitutions, legislation, court decisions and regional treaties, there are notable exceptions – including Canada, the U.S., the U.K., China and Australia.
Today, David Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human rights and the Environment, will present a new report to the United Nations General Assembly, outlining mounting evidence that human rights depend on a healthy environment and describing how the legal recognition of the right to a healthy environment can better hold governments and businesses accountable.
Boyd, who is also an associate professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC, discusses his report in this Q&A.
Continue reading at University of British Columbia.
Image via Jyotirmoy Gupta/Unsplash.
