A woman in the Peruvian Andes leads a cow through a pasture. Small farmers throughout the world, especially women, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures and drought on crops and livestock. (Photo by Barbara Fraser)
Two legal opinions issued in June, which state that a healthy climate is a basic human right, place new tools in the hands of environmental defenders, national policy makers and climate negotiators, experts say. The advisory opinions from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are not officially binding, but they create a framework that other courts can follow, at both the national and international levels, and which environmentalists can use in litigation. The IACtHR opinion, issued June 3, applies to countries in the Americas and the Caribbean, while the International Court of Justice opinion, issued June 23, applies to U.N. member nations. Since 1992, national and Inter-American court decisions have generally paved the way for stronger environmental policy in Latin America, says Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, former Peruvian environment minister and now global leader of the World Wildlife Fund’s climate and... [Log in to read more]
