Unfortunately, for too many, the connection between human rights and the climate crisis is not yet apparent. But the current situation in Australia—where bushfires continue to devastate large portions of the country—is bringing much needed attention to how the climate crisis will affect human rights in the years ahead.

The damage is truly historic. More than one billion animals have died around from the historic fires. At least 2,000 homes have been destroyed and at least 25 people have died since September 2019. Furthermore, in the largest military deployment since World War II, 3,000 Australian Defence Force reservists were arranged, as well as several Chinook helicopters, a Navy ship, and other military aircraft.

AN INADEQUATE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS

The Australian Human Rights commission itself acknowledges that a wide range of internationally accepted human rights are now potentially affected by the climate crisis, including the right to life; the right to adequate food; the right to water; the right to health; the right to human security; and the rights of indigenous peoples.

According to the United Nation’s Environmental Programme, “the right to life is universally recognised as a fundamental human right, yet, every year, 150,000 premature deaths are being to the climate crisis – a number set to increase with rising temperatures.”

Talk of releasing a national Royal Commission into these bushfires is being proposed by the Prime Minister. However, previous Royal Commissions’ recommendations still have not been fully implemented.

It is clear that the Government’s response has been inadequate in handling the scale of the crisis. For example, while laudable that the Australian government has allocated AU $76 million to mental health support for those impacted by these devastating climate crises, this is a small sum to the damages that were caused by the fires themselves, and will do nothing to prevent the next tranche of disasters to come.

So much of this could all have been avoided if the Government had taken the issue of climate change more seriously.

A WAKE UP CALL FOR ACTION

The Australian people are still fighting these fires, and implementation of pro-active and climate friendly policies need to be implemented.

This should be a wake-up call for many leaders around the world, witnessing such devastating climate crisis.

The fundamental human rights of people in Australia are now at risk because the Government fails in taking this issue seriously.

In light of this ravishing disaster, it is a wake-up call for Governments around the world to revaluate their policies that need updating, to better suit the current climate crisis era.