Senegal • Africa

Plastic waste has become a consistent pollution and threat of the 21st century, affecting public health, livelihoods and our natural environment.

Although plastic is quick to produce, distribute and consume, its lifespan far outweighs its time of use, with experts stating it can take hundreds of thousands of years to decompose.

Bargny, a settlement on the coast of Senegal, is home to many fishermen and women who live with the consequences of plastic. Serigne Abass Pouye, a resident of Bargny, faces the issue of plastic pollution daily.

“What do we see most at sea? Plastics everywhere,” he says.

And the effects extend from biodiversity to health to economics. Plastic is damaging the biodiversity of Bargny, which is directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of the residents. Turtle hatchlings are dying because they cannot reach the water because of trash and litter along the beach. The plastic waste covering the water and fishing grounds is damaging boats and reducing the opportunities to catch fish.

Despite these persistent challenges, some solutions are available, and Senegal has had some successes in addressing the unrelenting problem of plastic waste.

To read the full story, visit the . 

“As soon as we leave the shore, plastic gets tangled in our boats, which can capsize and break.”

—Abdou Rahman Wade

Bargny resident

8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced around the world over the last 60 years

9.5% of the world’s plastic have been recycled, the rest remain as waste

100,000+ years is the lifespan of plastic before decomposition

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Samar, Philippines • Asia

People everywhere are being affected by the growing climate crisis, with many people—those who have contributed little to the crisis—already experiencing the loss of life and basic human rights.

Marinel Ubaldo lives in a coastal community in the Philippines and has lived through many typhoons, including 2013’s Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The disasters have left her with loss.

“I lost friends, relatives, our house, our livelihood, our possessions,” Ubaldo said. “We are being deprived of our basic human rights, including our right to a safe environment.”

Each year, more people are being displaced because of drought, extreme weather events and other natural disasters caused by climate change. Experts say the scale of human displacement has grown year over year, from 19.2 million in 2018 to 24.9 million in 2019 and 59.1 million people in 2021.

To read the full story, visit

“More people are being displaced by climate change than armed conflict, although in many cases, the two are closely linked.”

—Ian Fry

Special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change

59.1 million people displaced in 2021 due to extreme weather events made worse by climate change

20 major economies (G20) are responsible for 80%  of global emissions, yet small island, developing states and least-developed countries combined account for only about 2% of those emissions

3.3 billion people are highly vulnerable to climate change

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Melbourne, Australia • Australasia

Rising temperatures have led to a rising number of wildfires across the globe. In 2020, Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player, crumpled to the ground during a first-round qualifying match of the Australian Open. 

“I just couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t walk so I just went down (onto the floor) because I couldn’t stand up straight,” she recalls.

The tennis tournament was held in Melbourne, and the air quality was reported to be “moderate to hazardous” at the time due to smoke from bushfires burning 16 million acres of Australia. Jakupovic eventually had to withdraw from the match.

The Australian bushfires created massive amounts of smoke, affecting millions of people’s health. The smoke was so significant, it drifted all the way to South America. As global temperatures continue to rise, it’s expected that wildfires similar to those in Australia will become more frequent and intense.

To read the full story, visit .

“I just couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t walk so I just went down (onto the floor) because I couldn’t stand up straight.”

—Dalila Jakupovic

Slovenian tennis player

1.6 Earths is the equivalent of what humanity is currently using, and ecosystems cannot keep up with our demands

~13 million people’s lives are lost each year from environmental factors

1.1°C greater increase in global temperature than in the 1800s

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Gunadule nation, Panama Coast • Central & South America

Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by the consequences of climate change.

Duiren Wagua, a member of the Gunadule nation, sees firsthand the effects of climate change, and uses photography to educate, inform and shed light on the practice of environmental stewardship.

The Gunadule nation is an Indigenous archipelago off the coast of Panama. The tribe has full sovereignty and autonomy over 49 islands and surrounding waters, forming the Guna Yala territory. This territory has become the most biodiverse marine environment in the region. The Gunadule have played a crucial role in protecting one of our �鶹ӰԺ most precious resources: the more than 80% of Panama’s living coral reefs that circle this Indigenous territory. 

“The coral reefs make up one of the most productive ecosystems in our Muu Bil-li (the greatest grandmother). They also form natural barriers that protect the coastal areas and islands against high and intense waves.”

Wagua’s photography serves as a creative outlet to share his community’s way of life with the wider world, and to share how water and wildlife shape the Gunadules’ history and traditions. 

To read the full story, visit . 

“We must once again . . . return to being part of the biodiversity of the animals, minerals and forests.”

—Duiren Wagua

Photographer and member of the Gunadule nation

Three-quarters of the world’s reefs have been bleached by ocean warming and acidification

1 billion people depend on these reef ecosystems for food, medicine, tourism, and natural protection from flooding and erosion

80% of global biodiversity is protected by Indigenous people, despite their making up less than 5% of the world’s population

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Europe

In the past year we’ve seen wildfires spread across Europe in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. These wildfires damaged the land and displaced thousands of people.

As people across Europe grappled to find security, Eleni Myrivili, the UN global chief heat officer, worked to spearhead heat response and resilience measures in cities around the globe.

High temperatures are particularly hard on urban areas, where buildings and pavement absorb and radiate heat. Aside from the additional heat from the sun, cities also have a higher concentration of people, cars and machinery, which further raises city temperatures.

Climate experts have long warned of rising temperatures and increased risks for human health and infrastructure.

“We are worried about cities because that’s where the majority of the population is,” Myrivili said.

To read the full story, visit .

“We have a lot of people who are socio-economically vulnerable and who are energy poor with little protection against these extreme events. We have to recognize heat as a crisis to focus on.”

—Eleni Myrivili

UN global chief heat officer

5°C  to 9°C warmer temperature in cities than rural areas from the concentration of people, cars, machinery and buildings absorbing sunlight

~80 million full-time jobs could be lost worldwide because of heat stress if no action is taken by 2030, resulting in losses of $2.3 trillion

5 million people die each year because of extreme temperatures

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Queens, United States • North America

Extreme weather events are often a byproduct of climate change. As these events grow in intensity and frequency, it has become clear that we all are vulnerable and no one is guaranteed safety.

Amrita Bhagwandin and her family live in the Queens borough of New York, having emigrated from Guyana in 1998. She lives in a diverse, hard-working community that cares about its families, its community, education and giving back.

Hurricane Ida struck her neighborhood on Sept. 1, 2021, and the community was never the same. Although some improvements had been made on the storm sewers on the block, it became clear that the amount of rain would overwhelm them. Worried, she began warning the neighbors to be very careful that night.

In a panic, she tried to get her husband and daughter to leave. They decided to stay, but Bhagwandin left to stay at her in-laws' home. A few hours later, she found out that the sewer hole in front of her house broke. Her husband and daughter barely made it out alive. They were the lucky ones.

“I found out that the mother and her son living next door to me had both drowned and died in the basement. I don’t have the words to tell you the pain that this neighborhood has gone through since.” 

To read the full story, visit .

“I want a safer community for everyone, for all of America, for every community.”

—Amrita Bhagwandin

Resident of Queens

29 people died in Hurricane Ida

1/7th of the world’s total emissions come from the United States—the world’s biggest economy—meaning U.S. climate action also has an outsized influence on our global climate

A projected 2℃ global temperature increase leads to extreme weather events that affect poor-quality and inappropriately located urban housing

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off

Marshall Islands • Small Islands

Small island states are experiencing sea level rise, increasingly extreme weather events and storms. Rising seas create many problems for their residents—loss of infrastructure and homes that affect peoples’ basic human rights, including the right to adequate housing, the right to development, and cultural and territorial rights.

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a poet and climate activist in the Marshall Islands, reflects on how her country has tried different techniques to no avail.

“In the past, our country has focused really heavily on mitigation; we focused on trying to get countries around the world to lower emissions,” she said. But she’s hopeful about the direction Marshall Island residents are moving toward.

“Adaptation allows us to take a more personal, introspective look at our country and our nation, and make sure that we are ready first for whatever is to come.”

The Marshall Islands, one of the 38 places within the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), is developing a 10-year plan to outline adaptation techniques in response to climate change. Their responses to increasing vulnerability go beyond a reaction to emergencies to chart a possible path for other countries that might eventually face comparable challenges, even though their people live far from the water’s edge.

To read the full story, visit the .

“In the past, our country has focused really heavily on mitigation; we focused on trying to get countries around the world to lower emissions.”

—Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Poet and climate activist

~400 million Indigenous people face threats to their rights to culture, as well as their collective rights to development and self-determination, due to their strong connection to nature

38 member islands are within the UN Small Island Developing States

+600 million people live in coastal zones that are less than 10 meters above sea level

By integrating human rights within climate solutions, we can develop inclusive mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Off