UN 
The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, reported that the world is estimated to have suffered at least $2.8 trillion in losses and damages due to climate change between 2000 and 2019.
Türk was speaking at the opening of a panel on “The impact of climate change on human rights” at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Noting that glaciers are melting, oceans are warming, forests are burning, and rivers and lakes are drying up due to climate change, Türk stated that the world is in great danger in terms of human rights and the future.
Türk stressed that there is an 80 percent chance that the global annual average temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in one of the next five years.
“We know that the loss and damage caused by climate change will hit the most vulnerable people and developing countries, even though they have contributed the least to it,” Türk said, adding that millions of people will be forced from their homes and internally displaced because of climate change.
Climate change will affect human rights, the right to life, and the rights to food and health, Türk said.
Noting that loss and damage also have a direct impact on workers and their rights, Türk said that climate change causes more than a third of heat-related deaths among workers.
- Call for “climate finance” for countries most responsible for climate change
Emphasizing that climate chaos has huge economic costs, Türk said, “Recent studies estimate that the world has suffered at least $2.8 trillion in losses and damages due to climate change in the period 2000-2019.”
Noting that the effects of the climate crisis are increasing every day, Türk said that countries should step up their action on the issue to prevent the situation from worsening.
Emphasizing the need to strengthen the livelihoods of individuals and communities directly affected by climate change, Türk stressed that countries most responsible for climate change have an obligation to provide “climate finance” to address climate-related losses and damages. (AA)
