During its closing session on 25 August 2006, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human rights recommended to the recently established UN Human Rights Council the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the legal implications of the disappearance of States and other territories for environmental reasons. The decision follows studies undertaken by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Sub-Commission, which note that, as opposed to issues of State succession, the question of the extinction of a State, without there being a successor, is unprecedented. Questions related to the forced relocation of extinct States populations have been highlighted by the Sub-Commission, in States that will totally disappear, mostly island States, but also for States with a significant proportion of whose territory will disappear, leaving only such territory as will be unable to support the existing population.
Link to further information
UN press release
(25 August 2006)
In this interview, EcoPeace Directors Nada Majdalani (Palestine), Yana Abu-Taleb (Jordan) and Gidon Bromberg (Israel) explain why disengaging from a shared environment can aggravate the region’s security challenges.
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If ratified, the Mercosur-EU trade deal may reinforce the parties’ commitment to climate action. Yet, its potential relevance is weakened by a language that often stops short of concrete commitments, as well as political resistance.
Iraq is on the verge of an environmental breakdown, and climate change is not helping. The country's fragile environment and the increasing scarcity of natural resources — particularly water — are a result of poor environmental management, as well as several political and historical factors. However, as climate change impacts add to the existing pressures, the environmental collapse turns into a security issue.