By Neha Yadav
What are the basic environmental problems degrading the planet in the current times? The inhabitants of the planet- Earth would answer to this as - pollution, poor waste management, global warming and worse of all, the climate change. A profound brainstorming raises speculations on implicating basic human economic, cultural and social rights. ‘Human Right’ is the conundrum that goes unnoticed by the eye of even the most active environmentalists in today’s juncture.
However, the hovering question here is, how does human right impact the environment and the ecosystem we are living in? Our ecosystem is an environment that needs to be preserved and protected to sustain life in the future. With the prevalent environmental degradation problems and human behavioral drawbacks, protecting the environment has become the prerequisite to any other form of activism.
A Rohingya girl cries as refugees fleeing from Myanmar cross a stream in the hot sun on a muddy rice field on October 16, 2017 near Palang Khali, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. | Getty Images: Paula Bronstein
Procedural rights, like rights to information and expression are the basic human rights that need to be put in place in a bid to protect the collapsing environment. Today, the right to health and water is something that is branded with a price tag making the basic resources inaccessible to people.
Many constitutions around the globe are bolstered with human rights frameworks that link human rights and environment inextricably to protect what is dwindling in the face of human rights contravention every single day. The International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) researched on the waning bridge between the environment and human rights and inferred with close facts and case studies. These case studies highlighted the threatening impacts of business practices, armed conflicts and human rights violations on the environment.
She describes Yamuna as, “A river of deep religious and life-giving significance for millions of people, teeming with toxic industrial and residential pollutants.” Here, Ossom reflects how poor human behavior leads to environment degradation that limits the enjoyment of the right to water, cultural rights and right to satisfactory health and livelihood for the people. The toxic clouds of floating foam on river Yamuna substantiates how pollution and climate change can do local harm and manifest global inequalities.
In another exemplary research, ‘Confronting Conflict Pollution’ done by the International Human Right Clinic Conflict and Environment Observatory describes how armed conflicts and military activities take a deteriorating toll on the environment and affect the ecosystem. Over the years of international efforts, environmental problems associated to humanitarian consequences of war have been studied prodigiously by various organizations and environmentalists.
Peace building is one such form of confronting the growing environmental damage. Both, sustainable development and Peace nip the bud where conflict grows its roots from. Humanitarian disarmament is one of the ways figured out by the international organizations and civil society to prevent human suffering and environmental torment inflicted by arms.
The concept of ‘victim assistance’ is now the major ingredient of the humanitarian disarmament law that entails states to provide quick assistance to civilians and combatants alike. This law in its true sense provides ailment to those who are harmed by weapons and also to the environment that suffers due to the remnants war leaves behind.
Post industrialization, demand for the gift of nature increased. The demand for Gold rushed exponentially sparking an economic boom for various countries. But, all this comes at the cost of the ecosystem. The extraction of this precious metal was never expected to be menacing to the nature. The gold industry gradually started to endanger the environment and health of the people across the globe.
Gold mining started causing water, air and soil contamination expo
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