Putting a human face on climate change: Reflections of a Sauvé Scholar

Since August 2010 when I arrived at the gigantic Sauvé Mansion, I have been working on a project which examines the human right consequences of global climate change on the Inuit communities in Canada. This project attempts to move beyond mere rhetoric of climate change to demonstrate how climate change is already posing direct and indirect effects on life and lifestyles in the Inuit communities. Extreme weather events such sea level rise, melting of ice, thawing of permafrost, increased precipitation, and fatal heat waves have already been documented. It is however the non-physical impacts of climate change on these communities that are more worrying and the most difficult to measure. These include the potential displacements of people from their homes, loss of traditional lifestyles, increased health problems, and the loss of the benefit of culture amongst others.

Considering the irreversible damage of the foregoing, the time has come for us to begin to think of climate change in a new way. There is a need to move beyond statistics, grandstanding and promises to taking concrete actions which are human centered. My project calls for a human rights based approach to addressing climate change. This approach is a move from market based approaches to an approach which recognizes that changes caused by global warming is already interfering with the realization of several human rights, such as the right of indigenous peoples to continue to use and enjoy their traditional lands, right to health, right to life, and right to the benefit of culture.

To put a human face on climate change would mean coming up with policy frameworks which draw on international human rights standards and best practices to provide protection for the Inuit community. These well established standards include access to information, public participation, accountability, equality and non-discrimination, and access to justice. Access to information for example would include letting people know through increased public awareness programmes how climate change would affect their lives and lifestyles. Participation would entail the involvement of the Inuit people in designing responses to the effects of climate change on their lives. Similarly, there would be a need for remedies like compensations and resettlements for victims of these climate induced stress.

The serenity of the Sauvé house has afforded me some time to continue to reflect and work on this project. New ideas keep flowing in by the day either when I do a eat and think on the very comfy leather sofas at the kitchen, or when I go all the way for some time alone at the library or reading area. Needless to talk of the high productivity rate my deluxe room offers me, especially on the extremely cold winter days.