The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a report today that illustrates the alarming connection between the increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves and the decline in air quality worldwide. These changes not only jeopardize people’s health but also pose a threat to their fundamental right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
Amnesty International’s Climate Advisor, Ann Harrison, emphasized the exacerbating impact of climate change on heatwaves and extreme heat. She highlighted how these factors, when coupled with wildfires and desert dust, have measurably harmed air quality on a vast scale, posing a significant risk to people’s right to health and a healthy environment.
### Climate Change and Air Quality: An Inseparable Link
Harrison underscored the inextricable link between climate change and air quality, explaining that the same pollutants that contribute to climate change also harm air quality. This scenario endangers human health, damages ecosystems, reduces agricultural productivity, and puts lives at risk on a daily basis.
The latest report’s data pertained to the previous year and did not account for the substantial quantities of pollutants generated by the record-breaking global temperatures experienced in the last three months. Additionally, the particulate matter released by the ongoing large-scale wildfires in Canada and Europe was not factored in. This emphasizes the urgent need for swift and effective climate action, involving a just transition from fossil fuels that fully respects and protects human rights.
### The Call for Immediate and Meaningful Action
Harrison stressed the urgency of taking meaningful action to avert an even worse climate disaster. She expressed doubts about unproven carbon capture or removal and storage technologies, asserting that relying on these would discourage the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels. Additionally, carbon credit markets, which have been prone to manipulation and abuse by fossil fuel polluters, are not a viable solution to address the crisis at hand.
Countries must act swiftly to prioritize public health and human rights. Specifically, those countries with the highest historical emissions must fulfill their climate finance commitments to safeguard the rights of Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities who are most vulnerable to climate change.
### Background: Climate Change’s Disproportionate Impact
Amnesty International has consistently drawn attention to the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized individuals and communities such as refugees and migrants. The organization has documented how heatwaves specifically impede human rights in vulnerable communities. Notably, Amnesty International is part of a coalition, including civil society and Indigenous peoples, which successfully campaigned for the universal recognition of everyone’s right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, resulting in the prestigious United Nations Human Rights Prize.
### Conclusion: A Time for Action
The report from the World Meteorological Organization sheds light on the critical connection between rising heatwaves and declining air quality, emphasizing the threat these developments pose to human rights. It is clear that addressing climate change and improving air quality are intertwined challenges that demand immediate attention.
To avert further climate disasters, it is imperative that we prioritize effective and participatory climate action. This includes implementing swift and equitable fossil fuel phase-outs, while remaining cautious of untested technologies and unreliable carbon credit markets. The international community must ensure that the rights of vulnerable populations, particularly Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities, are upheld by fulfilling climate finance commitments and embracing a just energy transition.
Unchecked climate change will continue to increase the frequency and severity of heatwaves, posing a direct threat to human health and undermining the right to a clean and healthy environment. Meaningful action is required now to limit the impact of these escalating crises and to secure a sustainable and equitable future for all.
<< photo by Nicolas Houdayer >>
The image is for illustrative purposes only and does not depict the actual situation.