UN officially recognizes access to clean energy as a human right

The U.N. The Human Rights Council on Friday recognised access to a clean environment as a human right, amidst calls for world leaders to step up efforts to stop the planet from heating.

The text, proposed by Morocco, Costa Rica, the Maldives, Slovenia and Switzerland, was passed with 43 votes in favour and 4 abstentions from Russia, India, China and Japan, prompting a rare burst of applause in the Geneva forum, reported Reuters.

While not legally binding, the resolution could help lawyers in cases involving the environment and human rights.

“This has life-changing potential in a world where the global environmental crisis causes more than nine million premature deaths every year,” said David Boyd, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, quoted by reuters.

Climate change and water scarcity will force 143 million to more than 216 million people to migrate internally by 2050, according to a new report by the World Bank.

In North African countries like Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Algeria, about 19.3 million people will be forced to change their place of residence due to climate issues.

In the worst-case scenario, nearly 52 percent of all internal migrants in Morocco could be climate migrants.

“In the more climate-friendly scenario, climate migrants would make up about 10 percent of all internal migrants”, states the World Bank’s report.

Tangier, Souss-Massa, and especially the regions of Agadir, Essaouira and the areas surrounding Fez are expected to be affected by these climatic changes causing internal migration problems.

For cities and rural areas, there is an urgent need to build resilience to water changes. People-centered investments in financial safety nets, movable assets such as education, water supply and sanitation, health care, and safe housing for poor migrants can help protect people from severe water-related shocks, the report says.