TheCable

Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, says the environment is dying and the right to food is threatened by climate crisis.

Türk spoke at the 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

The high commissioner said over 828 million people faced starvation as a result of extreme weather events in 2021.

Türk called for an end to “senseless subsidies” of the fossil fuel industry, adding that a future of hunger and suffering must not be delivered to the next generations.

He said addressing climate change is a human rights issue and that COP28 later this year would be the “decisive game-changer that we so badly need”.

“More than 828 million people faced hunger in 2021. And climate change is projected to place up to 80 million more people at risk of hunger by the middle of this century,” he said.

“Our topic this morning is the right to food, and clearly this is comprehensively threatened by climate change. Extreme weather events, both sudden and gradual disasters caused by climate change, wipe out crops, herds, fisheries and entire ecosystems.

“Their repetition makes it impossible for communities to rebuild and support themselves. Often, these are countries that benefited little from industrial development.

“And contributed next to nothing to the industrial processes which are killing our environment and violating rights. If this is not a human rights issue, what is?

“Our environment is burning. It’s melting. It’s flooding. It’s depleting. It’s drying. It’s dying. There is still time to act but that time is now.

“We must not deliver this future of hunger and suffering to our children, and their children. And we don’t have to. We must not leave this for our children to fix – no matter how inspiring their activism.

“We the generation with the most powerful technological tools in history, we have the capacity to change the status quo.”