27 May 2021 - NPWJ News Digest on Environmental Justice & Human Rights

Articles

Coal Scores a Win as Wider Climate Reckoning Rocks Fossil Fuels
Bloomberg, 27 May 2021

Austalia's pro-fossil fuels government and one of the countr's top coal producers won a climate change court battle against an elderly nun and a group of Greta Thunberg-inspired teenagers. The decision clears the way for Whitehaven Coal Ldt. to seek final go-ahead for a mine expansion aimed at producing as much as 10 milion tons a year of mostly metallurgical coal, used in steel-making.

Read More

Human Rights Watch statement on attacks against Munduruku indigenous leaders
Human Rights Watch, 26 May 2021

Human Rights Watch condemns the attacks perpetrated by groups involved in illegal mining against Munduruku Indigenous leaders in the state of Pará on May 26, 2021. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF), armed miners operating in the region raided the Fazenda Tapajós village in Jacareacanga and set several houses on fire. 

Read More

Why India Needs A Better Public Participation Framework For Environmental Governance?
Jurist, 26 May 2021

On 22nd April 2022, Earth Day, the Escazu Agreement enters into operation, marking a significant moment for transaprent and participatory decision-making in environmental governance. The Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Carribean 2018 (Escazu Agreement) was adopted in 2018 to "Promote environmental democracy, cooperation, and capacity-building."

Read More

Uganda court to hear first human rights case concerning climate change
Jurist, 26 May 2021

The High Court of Uganda at Mbale will hear a case on Wednesday brought by citizens against the federal government, alleging the government failed to uphold its human rights obligations to protect threatened communities from the effects of climate change. Forty-eight survivors of a deadly landslide addert that the Ugandan government violated their "rights to life, property, and the right to a lean and healthy environment," in its failure to act on the known landslide risk. 

Read More

Court orders Royal Dutch Shell to cut carbon emissions by 45% by 2030
The Guardian, 26 May 2021

A court in the Hague has ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by the end of 2030 compared with 2019 levels, in a landmark case brought by Friends of the Earth and over 17,000 co-plaintiffs. The oil giant's sustainability policy was found to be insufficiently "concrete" by the Dutch court in an unprecedented ruling that will have wide implications for the energy industry and other polluting multinationals. 

Read More

Pope launches green initiative, decrying "predatory attitude" toward planet
Reuters, 25 May 2021

Pope Francis launched an initiative on Tuesday to make Catholic institutions ranging from families to universities to businesses environmentally sustainable in seven years, saying a "predatory attitude" toward the planet must end. The Laudato Si Action Platform takes its name from the pope's landmark 2015 encyclical on the need to protect the environment, reduce wasteful lifestyles, stem global warming and protect the poor from the effects of climate change.

Read More