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Café Scientifique - Mudança Climática e Direitos Humanos

Do you think that all human beings should have the right to a certain amount of carbon emissions, in order to have subsistence? But is that sanctioning our right to pollute our environment? And if we focus on our rights, are we in danger of forgetting about our responsibilities?

If you find the questions above interesting and want to get more information about Climate Change and Human Rights, join us in our next Café Scientifique to a debate among guests in Recife (Brazil), New Deli (India) and Edinburgh (UK). This event will be facilitated by the freelance journalist specialising in environmental issues Rob Edwards.

During the event, the Professor of Environmental Political Theory School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, Tim Hayward will talk about on how issues of both emissions and subsistence should be developed by reference to the idea of ‘ecological space’.  According to Tim, an equitable distribution of rights to ecological space would in principle ensure an equitable distribution of welfare goods without sanctioning any excess use of natural resources or environmental services, including the planet’s capacity for absorbing carbon.

Click here to read an abstract of Tim’s talk

Speaker:
Tim Hayward is Professor of Environmental Political Theory School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh. He is a political theorist at Edinburgh since 1994, Tim previously taught philosophy at the Universities of Sussex and Glamorgan. He has also worked at the University of Bari, Italy, and held a visiting fellowship at Oxford University. Among numerous publications (including Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish translations) he has authored three books: Ecological Thought: an introduction (Polity Press, 1995), Political Theory and Ecological Values (Polity Press, (1998), and Constitutional Environmental Rights (Oxford University Press, 2005).

Tim's current research examines the relation between human rights and global environmental justice, with a particular focus on natural resource issues and the concept of ecological debt.

You can find further information about Tim

Facilitator:
Rob Edwards has been a freelance journalist specialising in environmental issues for more than 25 years. He had written for New Statesman, The Guardian, The Observer, The Mail, The Sunday Times, Scotland on Sunday, The Scotsman, The Glasgow Herald, the Edinburgh Evening News and others. Since 1999 he has been the environment editor of the Sunday Herald and a correspondent for New Scientist. He has also produced TV programmes, given many talks, chaired conferences and been regularly interviewed on radio and television. Rob has co-authored three books about nuclear power, and won a series of awards, most recently being shortlisted as environment journalist of the year in the British Environment and Media Awards. He is a member of the National Union of Journalists, and he lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

You can find further information about Rob

<Limited places>
Date: 30/10/07
Time: from 08:00 to 11:00 (Recife’s time)
Registration: Free of charge until 25/10/07 at recife@britishcouncil.org.br
Venue: British Council Recife
Av. Agamenon Magalhães, 4775 / 8th floor
Information: 81-2101-7500

Abstract of Tim Hayward’s talk

There is agreement internationally that responsibility for reducing carbon emissions should be equitably shared, but debate about the principles for fair sharing frequently focuses on the distribution of emissions rights.  This shift of focus from responsibilities to rights is not necessarily conducive to reducing emissions, since pressing for rights can distract from fulfilling responsibilities. Moreover, the emerging carbon markets in which emissions rights are traded arguably work to dilute the responsibilities of the affluent nations and disadvantage the poorer.

Would recognition of a human right to a certain level of emissions be an appropriate response to these issues?  Concerns about the situation of the worst-off globally have led to calls for recognition of a human right to some baseline amount of emissions per capita in order to secure subsistence. However, given the reasons to support a human right to an adequate environment, would it not be a mistake to recognize any human right to pollute?

My suggestion is that issues of both emissions and subsistence should indeed be comprehended within a single framework of justice, but that this broader framework should be developed by reference to the idea of ‘ecological space’. An equitable distribution of rights to ecological space would in principle ensure an equitable distribution of welfare goods without sanctioning any excess use of natural resources or environmental services, including the planet’s capacity for absorbing carbon.