Today, 22 April 2020, marks the 50th anniversary of International Mother Earth Day. This year’s celebration is a historical moment for the world as many nations confront the threat of the coronavirus disease-2019 (Covid-19). While mother nature suffers from devastating effects of climate change, people are dying too due to this ongoing public health crisis.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) joins the global call to raise awareness that protecting Earth and its ecosystems is our collective responsibility. The current pandemic is just a preview into how our future will be if governments around the world will not take the climate crisis seriously. More so, it also demonstrates how interconnected the world is, and shows the domino effect when one element in this interconnected system is damaged.

Climate change is one of the largest threats to sustainable development globally and is just one of many imbalances caused by unsustainable and excessive practices of humankind. This critical juncture in history calls on all of us, especially nation states, to come together with compassion, humility, and concrete actions as we work towards delivering a healthy and sustainable future for all that strike a just balance among the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations.

The damaging effects of climate change and Covid-19 have made it clear how unequal and vulnerable our society and international community is. We have also witnessed how these phenomena systematically exclude and marginalise populations, especially those living in poverty who are mostly affected and at risk of the consequences. Whether man-made or natural, these global emergencies also resulted to grave human rights violations that continue to challenge our social protection and justice systems.

The Commission underscores the need for both systemic and individual changes to deliver climate justice. Although we recognise that our nation is currently struggling in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis, we should not wait too long and remain unprepared in tackling both existing and impending damage that we currently experience and bound to face.

Together with governments, business enterprises also share the responsibility to prevent and address negative impact of their actions on the environment. Climate change may not be explicitly mentioned in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights nor the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, but it has been widely accepted that corporate responsibility to respect human rights and environmental rights includes the responsibility to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for climate change.

Regardless of which approach we adopt to mitigate the harm we inflicted on planet Earth, the welfare of the people, especially the most vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalised, should be at the heart of any government response.

While we recognise that the pandemic is a direct threat to our individual lives, climate change remains to be the biggest existential threat to humanity. ###