— Overview of Academic Viewpoints at the Asian Forum on Human Rights 2022

 

CAO Wei* & ZHANG Shu**

 

Abstract: The Asian Forum on Human Rights was held at the Renmin University of China (RUC) from November 26 to 27, 2022. With the theme “Environment, Climate Change and Human Rights,” the event consisted of 12 sub-forums. The forum was hosted by RUC and jointly organized by the RUC Law School, RUC School of Global Governance, Human Rights Center of RUC, RUC Asia-Pacific Institute of Law, and RUC Center for Coordination and Innovation of Food Safety Governance. The forum focused on discussing topics related to climate change and the environment and responded to common concerns of the international community. It built an international exchange platform to facilitate Asian scholars to build consensus on human rights. Covering a wide range of topics, the event promoted academic exchange in various fields. Experts and scholars from both home and abroad built an extensive consensus on topics such as climate change, environmental conservation, and human rights protection through open exchanges and in-depth discussions, contributing their ideas and wisdom to improving the common well-being of Asian people.

 

Keywords: human rights · environmental rights · climate change · Asian concept of human rights

 

In order to address human rights issues amid the challenge of climate change, exchange the experiences of various countries in human rights protection, and bring together Asian scholars to build theoretical consensus, Renmin University of China (RUC) hosted the Asian Forum on Human Rights in Beijing on November 26-27, 2022. With the theme “Environment, Climate Change and Human Rights,” the forum was jointly organized by the RUC Law School, RUC School of Global Governance, Human Rights Center of RUC, RUC Asia-Pacific Institute of Law, and RUC Center for Coordination and Innovation of Food Safety Governance. Wang Yi, Vice President of RUC, presided over the opening ceremony of the forum. Lin Shangli, President of RUC, Jiang Jianguo, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), deputy head of the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, and Executive Vice Chairman of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, Wang Qijiang, a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Chairman of the China Law Society, and Smriti Aryal, head of UN Women China, addressed the opening ceremony. Shi Yan’an, Dean of the School of Global Governance, Director of the Department of International Exchange, and professor of the Law School at RUC, presided over the closing ceremony of the forum. Vitit Muntarbhorn, professor emeritus at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, former UN Special Rapporteur, and a laureate of the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, and Lu Haina, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center and professor at the Law School of RUC, delivered speeches at the closing ceremony. The forum consisted of 12 sessions, including “Human Rights in the Asian Perspective,” “Basic Theory of Environmental Rights,” “Achievements and Experiences of Asian Countries in Ensuring Environmental Rights,” “Legal Adaptation under Climate Change,” “State and Social Actions under Climate Change,” “Guarantee of Rights under Climate Change,” “National and International Guarantee Mechanisms of Environmental Rights,” “Environmental Rights and Sustainable Development Goals,” “Climate Change in the Eyes of Asian Youth,” “Procedural Environmental Rights,” “Gender, Equality and Climate Change,” and “Food, Health and Environment.” Centered on these topics, 12 parallel sessions were held online. Experts and scholars from China and abroad conducted in-depth discussions on relevant topics, reviewed the experiences and achievements of Asian countries in environmental conservation and human rights protection over the past decade, and analyzed practical problems related to environmental rights from the perspective of human rights amid climate change. The forum took place on the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. It was of theoretical and practical significance to hold the forum at this crucial moment to review the achievements of Asian civilizations in addressing the environmental and development challenges, forecast the future and discuss practical problems faced by Asian countries. 

 

 

Climate change is a common challenge facing the whole of mankind, which poses a severe threat to various human rights, including the right to health, the right to life, the right to culture, the right to housing, the right to food, and the right to water and healthcare facilities. People are increasingly aware that climate change is a matter affecting human rights. Meanwhile, thinking from the perspective of human rights provides a new path for addressing climate change. In the face of the human rights crisis arising from climate change, emphasizing the moral constraining force of human rights and the legislation on human rights protection for the purpose of protecting human rights is helpful for the international community to build more consensuses on tackling climate change and taking the responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To address climate change and the human rights crisis that it is causing, Asian countries need to forge a consensus on the concept of human rights. There are certain foundations for this. However, to reach this goal, Asian countries need to overcome some obstacles. Against the backdrop of climate change, it is necessary to analyze and discuss concepts of human rights and environmental rights and their guarantee mechanisms in Asian countries, so as to build an Asian consensus. 

 

 

For a long time, the Western discourse has dominated the construction of the concept of human rights, and Asian countries have failed to make their voices heard. In this context, it is imperative for Asian countries to build a consensus on human rights according to Asia’s cultural traditions and realities. To this end, all countries should be allowed to fully expound on their viewpoints and stances on human rights. Professor Yubarai Sangra from Nepal’s Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University suggested that the concepts and ideas related to humanism and human rights in the works of ancient Chinese and South Asian philosophers are consistent with modern concepts of human rights. We should draw inspiration from the intellectual resources of Eastern philosophers to better understand human rights and achieve the decolonization of concepts of human rights. Heru Susetyo, an associate professor from the University of Indonesia, noted that most Asian countries refuse to accept a universal concept of human rights, and would rather respect cultural diversity and its influence on concepts of human rights. Generally speaking, Asian societies put the collective above individuals and stress consensus instead of conflict. Asian countries place greater emphasis on social and economic rights and pay greater attention to ensuring political stability and economic growth, which are integral parts of the Asian concept of human rights. Based on his analysis of the constitutions of some Asian countries, Professor Aziz Ismatov from Japan’s Nagoya University pointed out that according to traditional concepts of socialist countries, those countries in paricular stress that social development depends on effective state governance and requires a strong president, prime minister or parliament. In fact, this conception is a crucial part of Asian countries’ interpretation of human rights, namely, a very powerful core leadership. Professor Lin Laifan from Tsinghua University noted that Chinese philosopher Yan Fu translated “liberty” into “ziyou”(自由) or “ziyou”(自繇) and “right” into “zhi”(直) “minzhi”(民直) or “tianzhi”(天直), which have a distinctive Chinese flavor. The Chinese stance on Yan Fu’s concept of rights is of great significance. Compared to Japanese scholar Hiroyuki Kato, Yan Fu benefited from traditional Chinese culture and confined his human rights studies to the scope of Darwinism, and was thus exempt from the influence of the hegemonic concept of rights. His cognition of human rights was based on the philosophical legacies of Confucianism and Taoism, with a particular focus on morality, altruism, and the concept of harmony rooted in traditional Confucian society. Professor Sun Pinghua from the China University of Political Science and Law introduced modern Chinese educator Zhang Pengchun’s contribution to international concepts of human rights. According to Sun, Zhang Pengchun was a philosopher of multiculturalism who held the humanistic idea of emphasizing the dignity and value of humans and the Confucian thought of building an inclusive, harmonious world, and was an advocate for the profound wisdom of traditional Chinese culture. His thoughts were refined through comparison with and reflection on diverse cultures around the world, eventually forming his own multiculturalist concept of human rights. The existing international human rights discourse system contains rich Chinese concepts and ideas on human rights. Human rights are not exclusive to Western countries. As a matter of fact, Chinese values and philosophical ideas made huge contributions to the history of human rights. 

 

Professor Chang Jian from Nankai University delivered a speech themed “Practical Opportunities for Asian Countries to Build Consensus on Human Rights.” In the speech, he analyzed the necessity and urgency for Asian countries to build a consensus on human rights, discussed various possibilities to reach such a consensus, and explored the path to overcome obstacles to achieving a consensus. The deepening economic and social interactions among Asian countries provide a good opportunity for them to build a wider consensus on human rights. Asian countries should seize the historic opportunity and adopt proper approaches and strategies to actively build a consensus on human rights, so as to achieve political mutual trust, sustainable economic development and lasting social stability in Asia and build an Asian Community with a Shared Future. 

 

 

Climate change has triggered various ecological and environmental problems and has become a common challenge for all countries to face and address. Ensuring people’s environmental rights and interests has become important for all countries. In this regard, China and other countries in Asia have made efforts in conception, legislation, policy and practice. Lu Guangjin, Vice Chairman of the China Society for Human Rights Studies and a professor at Jilin University, pointed out that as a member of the international community, China has constantly advanced its understanding and practice in environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The country actively participates in global climate governance agendas, mechanisms and processes. In terms of policy formulation and practical action, China has continuously improved strategic deployments and action plans for green development. In 2020, China announced it would renew and strengthen its nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to climate change, and put forth the goals of achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and realizing carbon neutrality by 2060, making major contributions to promoting global environmental governance and addressing climate change. Professor Yu Wenxuan from the China University of Political Science and Law summarized China’s achievements since its reform and opening up from the perspective of energy justice. He pointed out that after decades of development, China has constantly strengthened its capability of guaranteeing energy supply and made prominent achievements in saving energy and optimizing its energy structure. Its level of energy technology has been quickly enhanced, its energy system and environmental friendliness have obviously improved, and its energy governance mechanism has been continuously optimized. The country has realized fruitful achievements in benefiting the people with its energy development. In the future, China will further promote the energy transition, participate in global energy governance, and work with other countries to maintain the new pattern of international energy cooperation and achieve energy security worldwide. Professor Guili, Vice President of International Cooperation at Bishkek Humanities University in Kyrgyzstan, said that in recent years, Kyrgyzstan has taken various measures to safeguard the natural system and address climate change, such as promulgating the act of Declaring 2022 as the Year of Alpine Ecosystem Protection and Climate Resilience, with an aim to strengthen climate resilience and protect natural heritage; confirming Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to achieving global goals in ecology and climate; and taking active actions under the framework of the international climate agenda. In the coming years, Kyrgyzstan will take further actions to promote agricultural, energy, industrial and forestry development, promote eco-tourism, and strengthen its emergency response capacity. Uyanga Maamar, an associate professor at the School of Law of the National University of Mongolia, noted that climate change has exerted an increasing impact on the global environment in recent years, including the natural environment of Mongolia. Climate change, coupled with desertification, has fueled greater attention towards environmental issues. To respond to those challenges, Mongolia has formulated and revised many laws to clarify civil legal responsibilities for afforestation, conservation and environmental restoration, and enacted strict administrative and criminal regulations to effectively protect its eco-environment. 

 

 

China has carried out significant exploration and practice to address the difficulties in human rights protection under climate change. Ensuring everyone enjoys human rights is the unremitting goal of the Chinese government and the people. Not long ago, the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held in Beijing. The report to Congress stated that the country would follow a Chinese path of human rights development, actively participate in global human rights governance, and promote the all-around advancement of human rights. That is to say, on its journey in the new era, China will further promote the development of its own human rights cause and reinforce the institutional guarantees to ensure the people’s status as the country’s masters, and also contribute Chinese wisdom, experience and solutions to global human rights development. Xu Xianming, Vice Chairman of the China Law Society, introduced China’s concept of an ecological civilization. Over the decade since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has made achievements in environmental governance in the following three aspects: first, Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization; second, institutionalization for the protection of environmental rights; third, practical achievements in environmental governance. This indicates China’s concept of environmental protection has seen radical changes: first, changes in the concept of environmental subjects. Humans and everything are all environmental subjects, manifesting a shift from unitary subjects to diverse subjects; second, changes in the values of environmental protection. The concept of sustainable development, namely the concept of transgenerational justice, has emerged; third, changes in the concepts of rights and obligations. It has been acknowledged that mankind enjoys environmental rights and has obligations to the environment; fourth, changes in the methods of environmental protection. The principal approach for environmental conservation has shifted from administrative protection to legal protection. The establishment and development of the new concept of an ecological civilization is a key reason that China can achieve so many intellectual, theoretical, institutional, and practical achievements in building an ecological civilization. Wei Xiaoxu, an assistant professor at Jilin University, discussed the practical logic and theoretical interpretation of the right to subsistence in China. She pointed out that the relationship between the right to subsistence and other rights is unclear, and the right to subsistence overlaps with the right to development as well as economic, social and cultural rights. In the next three decades, the description of the right to subsistence may change continually. Therefore, we should understand the right to subsistence in a dynamic manner, and ponder over the relationship between the right to subsistence and other basic human rights. Wang Tingting, a doctoral student at the RUC School of Marxism Studies, compared Eastern and Western concepts of human rights and pointed out that China should promote the core concept of regarding environmental rights as basic human rights in the international community and actively participate in international dialogue, forums and negotiations concerning human rights.

 

 

The ecological and environmental problems arising from climate change are becoming increasingly severe. The international community has further realized that a clean, healthy environment is crucial to enjoying human rights fully. The initiation of environmental rights can be credited to the ecological and environmental problems facing mankind and the development of concepts of human rights. The concept of environmental rights was first put forward in Western countries during the 1960s. According to Principle 1 in the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment adopted in 1972, humans shall enjoy the fundamental right to adequate conditions of life in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being. On July 29, 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a historic resolution, with 161 votes in favor and eight abstentions, announcing that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a basic human right. After more than 50 years of development, the connotations of environmental rights have been re-interpreted with the advancement of the times. How to address climate change with an approach based on environmental rights has been a question worth exploring and pondering. 

 

 

Amid climate change, people have become increasingly aware of the importance of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment for life, and environmental rights have once again become the center of attention. The international community has reached a consensus on the human rights attributes of environmental rights. The National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2021-2025) includes particular stipulations on protecting environmental rights. From the perspective of jurisprudence, environmental rights have rich theoretical connotations. Lyu Zhongmei, head of the Research Institute for Environmental and Resource Laws under the China Law Society, noted that China had made continuous progress in policies and laws on human rights and environmental protection after years of development. In 2021, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress included the formulation of the codes in the area of administrative laws, including the Environmental Code, in its legislation plan. This indicated that China needed to push forward the formulation of the Environmental Code vigorously. In the process of formulating the code, environmental rights de facto serve as an important tool that integrate the value of the Environmental Code. We can implement national responsibilities centered around environment-related human rights and clarify the rules and thinking for formulating the Environmental Code through environmental rights to provide different settlement paths for private interests infringements and eco-environmental damage. Professor Wang Mingyuan from Tsinghua University pointed out that, in general, the environmental rights of citizens are a kind of procedural rights, and emphasizing theories on environmental rights plays a positive role in promoting relief for environmental rights and interests, ensuring sound environmental legislation, strict environmental law enforcement and society-wide observance of environmental laws, enhancing public awareness of environmental rights and boosting the development of China’s environmental protection cause. Professor Qin Tianbao from Wuhan University expounded on the development of environmental rights in China that features a global vision and domestic driving force. He holds that currently, China treats environmental rights more as a kind of governmental obligation, through which it constrains the behaviors of legislative, administrative and judicial organs, so as to improve environmental quality and ensure citizens fully enjoy environmental rights. Professor Zhang Zhen from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law believes that environmental rights have both core values and general values. The core values include the value of harmony and the value of coexistence, and the general values include the value of security and the value of sustainable development. Professor Wu Weixing from the Law School of Nanjing University divided China’s environmental rights into tangible environmental rights and procedural environmental rights. He noted that tangible environmental rights mainly concern health, and procedural environmental rights mainly involve law enforcement and judicature. Professor Upendra Acharya from Gonzaga University in the United States pointed out that we should rethink a non-Western model of legal civilization to develop obligation-based jurisprudence and non-human rights. 

 

 

So far, countries around the world haven’t reached a consensus on the connotations, nature and subjects of tangible environmental rights in terms of both legislation and theoretical research. However, emphasis has gradually been placed on procedural environmental rights. The Aarhus Convention adopted in 1998 acknowledged three key procedural environmental rights, namely, public participation in environmental decision-making, access to environmental rights, and access to justice, which constitute the basic connotations of procedural environmental rights. Procedural environmental rights have significant value and function in protecting human rights. Professor Zhu Xiao from Renmin University of China pointed out that China has achieved full protection and development of procedural environmental rights in recent years. In addition to strengthening the protection of the right to environmental information and the right to participation in environmental decision-making, China has also revised the law to award social organizations the right to initiate public interest lawsuits against environmental infringements and given the public the right to supervision and reporting in terms of procedural environmental rights. Professor Masako Murakami from Japan’s Nagoya University pointed out that civil litigation effectively protects environmental rights in Japan. In recent years, some climate lawsuits have aimed to protect the right to life and the right to health by means of civil litigation. However, almost all of them face legal obstacles. In the future, the courts should play a more active role by holding the stance to support the long-term protection of human rights, rather than just focusing on recent actual conditions. 

 

 

Environmental rights represent a concept with rich connotations that show great adaptability for social development. With the emergence of new social and scientific problems such as climate change and genetically modified organisms (GMO), the connotations of environmental rights should be expanded correspondingly to protect human rights better. Professor Yang Zhaoxia from Beijing Forestry University noted that environmental rights are iconic rights in the era of building an ecological civilization. There have been representative or iconic rights in different eras of human civilization. Their realization and protection levels can serve as the criteria to judge the developmental stage of a certain civilizational era. For instance, the right to membership was the representative right in the era of primitive civilization; the right to land ownership was the representative right in the era of agricultural civilization; and intellectual property rights were the representative rights in the era of industrial civilization; and environmental rights are the representative and iconic rights in the era of an ecological civilization. Professor Huang Yanghua from Renmin University of China stressed that the energy endowment and energy supply structure characterized by high carbon emissions and the terminal demand structure featuring high investment are practical problems that China faces today. From the perspective of the basic facts and relevant restrictions, China’s current carbon emissions budget distribution system is closely linked to the right to development. Therefore, we should pay particular attention to the problem of carbon emissions distribution between different regions, different generations, and different groups of people. Gulnula Sadikova, an associate professor at Bishkek Humanities University in Kyrgyzstan, pointed out that climate change may exert a certain impact on human health and the surrounding environment, so we need to consciously adapt to climate change and take a series of measures and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while cutting the consumption of natural resources. Professor Que Zhanwen from Sun Yat-sen University noted that the application of genome editing technology in agriculture poses great challenges to the protection of biodiversity and several human rights, and we should strengthen laws and regulations on the use of genome editing technology in agriculture and advance research on the impact of this technology on environmental rights. 

 

 

Climate change has caused numerous environmental problems and crises and greatly threatened various kinds of human rights, such as the right to subsistence, the right to health, the right to food, and the right to housing. Among them, as a kind of basic human right to live in a healthy, safe and sustainable environment, environmental rights are among the first falling victim to climate change. The problem of climate change has urged people to rethink the connotations of human rights and environmental rights and posed new challenges for the human rights and environmental rights protection mechanisms of various countries. In this context, appropriate responses should be made in terms of legislation, policy, and governmental and social actions.

 

 

Efforts to tackle climate change should be made within the framework of the law. This involves legal adaptation measures, such as formulating new laws and revising, abolishing or interpreting existing laws, to achieve proper adaptation for climate change. As for the adaptation of the procedural law, Professor Hu Jing from the China Law of Political Science and Law suggested that we should make environmental rights, as part of human rights, the foundation for environmental litigation under climate change. It should be noted that human rights are based on a kind of political logic and have reformative, strategic significance as basic rights, which by their nature represent a kind of political demand. Litigation is based on a kind of legal logic, and it requires the materialization of fundamental theories of human rights, so as to discuss the components and contents of the right to claims in the legal dimension. As for the adaptation of the pollution prevention and control law, Professor Zhang Lu from the East China University of Political Science and Law pointed out that in the process of addressing climate change, China uses the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals to guide the all-round green transformation of the economy and society. The carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals take carbon emissions reduction as the basic objective, and the current environmental law centers on pollution prevention and control. China should establish an environmental law mechanism featuring coordination of pollution control and carbon emissions reduction, adopt a holistic approach to promote pollution control and climate governance, develop a market-oriented legal system for pollution reduction, and coordinate the stances of the government and the market, as well as their relationship in the carbon emissions trading system, thus promoting the coordination of environmental law systems and achieving coordinated, efficient pollution control and carbon emissions reduction. As for the adaptation of the judicature, Gong Gu, a research fellow at Peking University, noted that human rights protection in the field of environment needs to pay greater attention to institutional construction, and the role of judicature is also crucial. In recent years, China’s judicial agencies have greatly encouraged public participation in environmental protection. Whether in terms of information disclosure, public participation in decision-making such as environmental impact evaluation, or public interest litigation, the courts always take an open attitude and stand on the side of public interests, which is worth recognizing. In the future, juridical activities should be more open in conception, and further expand the scope of protection. As for the adaptation of the administrative law, Professor Song Hualin from Nankai University pointed out that we should introduce the risk regulation principle into the administrative law, so as to better protect human rights. The right to health is a basic subjective right that serves as the foundation for individuals to ask the state to do or not do something. It is also an objective value that requires the state to do all it can to protect the right to health by establishing various organizations and procedures. From the perspective of the adaptation of the mineral resources law, Professor Uinge from the Mongolia Research Center for Legal Development and Reform noted that Mongolia has comprehensively revised and renewed its laws related to the exploration and utilization of mineral resources alongside the changes of the country’s political, economic and cultural systems in recent years, for the purpose of guaranteeing local people and miners’ right to live and work in a healthy, safe environment. 

 

 

In the process of tackling climate change, the obligation and responsibility of the state as well as the response capacity of social organizations are key issues. The state needs to clarify its objectives and tasks in the process, which are usually regulated and embodied by the Constitution and relevant legal departments. Professor Zhang Xiang from Peking University held that although China’s Constitution hasn’t clear stipulations on environmental rights, it still contains many regulations concerning national objectives. To some extent, regulations on national objectives are likely to transcend human rights, personal objectives, and anthropocentrism, and show a tendency for ecocentrism — at least partial ecocentrism. Professor Chen Zheng from the China University of Political Science and Law, pointed out that China has chosen to regulate environmental protection and safeguard its ecological civilization in the form of state objectives, which reflects the wisdom of the formulators of China’s Constitution and has no great difference from clear stipulations on environmental rights. Professor Wang Jianxue from Tianjin University noted that the ecological civilization system includes the protection of environmental rights, and the environmental code should give a general declaration on tangible environmental rights and forge a full public participation mechanism for the realization of procedural environmental rights. The key task for formulating the Environmental Code is to stipulate the institutional responsibilities of the State for environmental protection and to shape an effective environmental governance system. The codification of the state’s responsibilities for environmental protection should leave room for constitutionality interpretation and constitutional review, so as to achieve continuous development through legal adaptation. Moreover, state environmental governance should be integrated with social actions. Professor Issachar Rosen-Zvi from Israel’s Tel Aviv University called for transforming social governance from national to international and sub-national, from public to private, and from mandatory to voluntary through the rational integration of market logic and governmental regulation, so as to effectively address climate change. Besides, state actions should be conducive to the construction of a sound international political order. Professor Chung Suh-yong from Korea University pointed out that under the Paris Agreement, the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” seems to be loosening, but its enforcement mechanism has been strengthened. Countries worldwide should combine addressing climate change with building a fairer and most just international political order.

 

 

Climate change is having a variety of negative impacts on human life, become a huge obstacle for countries to improve their rights protection capacities, and put forth new requirements for state rights protection measures. All countries should promote the building of their rights guarantee mechanisms and strengthen their efforts to protect the rights of their people, especially vulnerable groups, across the board while attaching great importance to the rights of later generations. As for the construction of the rights guarantee mechanism, Professor Liu Yi from the China University of Political Science and Law held that the traditional environmental governance system is one led by the government and features the participation of social organizations and the public, with enterprises as the main entities. Among all kinds of entities, the system doesn’t emphasize the role of judicial organs in environmental governance. Since the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, China has begun to explore how to establish a procuratorial public interest litigation system to incorporate judicial organs into the environmental governance system in the institutional dimension and build a more complete public interests and rights guarantee mechanism. Professor Mirlan Dirdayev from Bishkek Humanities University in Kyrgyzstan highlighted climate change exerts a huge impact on the rural population. How to guarantee farmers’ basic rights and solve their predicament under extreme weather is a crucial issue. China attaches great importance to applying new technologies in agriculture, and its successful experience can be duplicated in neighboring countries, especially those in Central Asia, to improve local people’s living standards. Mostafa Naser, an assistant professor at Edith Cowan University, Australia, pointed out that population migration and displacement caused by climate change will become a common phenomenon. Bangladesh has a high population density and a limited land area, making it vulnerable to the impact of climate change. It is predictable that huge amounts of people in the country will become homeless due to the impact of climate change in the future. In this context, we must protect the basic rights of Bangladeshi people based on actual conditions and particularly respect the habits and rights of those who are unwilling to move away from their homes. Hoàng L? Anh, an assistant professor at Hanoi Law University in Vietnam, noted that Vietnam had built a complete legal framework to protect the right to a clean environment, and the next step is to effectively implement the legal framework for the protection and realization of the right to a clean environment. Sedem Serra Ujinpinar, a doctoral student at the College of Law, Ankara University, Türkiye, pointed out that climate change will greatly affect the conservation of historical relics, thus threatening the rights of later generations in terms of cultural heritage. Thus, we must connect cultural heritage conservation with the building of a sustainable, clean environment, so as to shelter cultural heritage from the impact of climate change.

 

 

Environmental rights will not be guaranteed without the concerted efforts of the entire international community. This requires strengthening the protection of environmental rights at both national and international levels and building corresponding guarantee mechanisms. In terms of the international mechanism, UNESCO Representative to Northeast Asia Shahbaz Khan said that UNESCO has carried out a lot of activities at regional and global levels to promote environmental protection. Environmental rights are part of human rights. In their pursuit of sustainable development, all countries should incorporate environmental protection into their educational systems. Professor Shirley Scott from the University of New South Wales, Australia, noted that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had taken some systematic countermeasures, launched the climate change security evaluation mechanism, and implemented some strategies for risk management. All of these are conducive to promoting international cooperation on climate change. Professor He Zhipeng from Jilin University pointed out that international environmental law remains relatively weak in the entire international law system. Still, norms related to environmental protection stipulated in international conventions in areas such as investment, international duties, ocean, and marine shipping have strong binding force, which plays a greater role in protecting environmental rights. For example, the common fisheries policy (CFP) concerning marine fishery and environmental assessment requirements in international conventions on trade in wildlife as well as trade talks are all conducive to achieving effective environmental governance. Professor Natmund Concha from Chiang Mai University, Thailand, noted that Asia is a region of diversity, and countries in the region sharply differ from each other in terms of their political system, religion, and culture. For this reason, there isn’t a pan-Asia regional organization so far. To address the common environmental problems faced by the region, ASEAN countries should unite together to achieve full cooperation in realms such as political security, economics, society, and culture, which conducive to protecting the environment and human rights in Southeast Asia. Liu Hongyan, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that Russia has established an effective procuratorial supervision mechanism to protect citizens’ ecological rights. The Russian procuratorial system includes the nature procuratorate, whose main tasks include supervising the protection of the eco-environment and the implementation of laws on the utilization of natural resources, cracking down on crimes in the ecological field, and preventing negative impact caused by irrational utilization of natural resources. This mechanism provides a new approach to rights protection. Linda Yanti Sulistiawat, an associate professor at Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, said that in recent years, more and more climate change litigations have emerged in Indonesia, but only 10% of the country’s judges have received training in environmental law. More efforts will be needed to strengthen relevant training in the future to improve Indonesia’s judicial guarantee mechanism for tackling climate change. 

 

 

Doubtlessly, climate change is a global crisis. However, the impacts of climate change vary for different countries and groups of people. In general, women, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and refugees face greater challenges and pressure as a result of climate change. The international community should view the process of addressing climate change from diverse perspectives and consider the crucial issue in a fairer and more complete manner. Besides, the impact of climate change on the environment can affect basic human rights such as the right to health and other human rights such as the right to food. Therefore, the protection of human rights and environmental rights should take into consideration and make arrangements for environmental rights and other related rights in a coordinated way. 

 

 

Caring for and empowering vulnerable groups is an indispensable action to address climate change. As for women’s role and position in action to address climate change, Professor Tang Yingxia from Nankai University stressed that the gender perspective has long been neglected in international climate change governance, and little progress has been made on the gender issue within the system of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). However, climate change isn’t gender neutral, and women and sexual minorities are more vulnerable to its impact. In climate litigation cases, at present, women are mostly defined as victims. Meanwhile, some new changes have emerged, and women have gradually participated in climate change litigations as promoters of reform. To some extent, this pushes forward climate governance. Professor Raymond Malwik Bagilart from the University of the Philippines pointed out that Aboriginals are a major group suffering from the impact of climate change, and their rights deserve greater attention. Since female Aboriginals face severe discrimination in their communities, efforts should be made to strengthen the protection of women’s rights in Aboriginal communities. Professor Li Zhongxia from RUC also pointed out that climate change creates an equality problem. The promulgation of policies for addressing climate change may directly affect the under-class groups, e.g. what crops farmers are allowed to plant and what environmental protection standards enterprises are required to follow. All of these will affect the tangible interests of the public. In the process of addressing climate change, s issues such as gender equality and the protection of minorities should be considered. Professor Zhang Wanhong from Wuhan University noted that climate change would affect the rights of people with disabilities. The relief of people with disabilities should be incorporated into emergency and disaster relief policies and plans and they should be provided an accessible material, social and cultural environment. People with disabilities should also be included in climate actions as decision-makers and beneficiaries and strengthen international cooperation in protecting the rights of people with disabilities. 

 

 

Climate change creates a direct impact on global food security. According to the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises about 193 million people in 53 countries faced food crises or even a worsening acute food insecurity situation in 2021, an increase of 80% from the 2016 level. Many Asian countries are suffering from food shortages. Access to sufficient food is a basic human right. How to guarantee the right to food is a key issue to address when tackling climate change. We need to review the right to food and its guarantee from diverse perspectives. Professor Zeng Xianghua from Jiangnan University pointed out that, in general, the focus of the right to food lies in sustainability, but the right to food is, to some extent, in conflict with sustainability. We need to consider the way to coordinate the right to food and sustainability from the aspects of protecting the rights of later generations and opposing extravagance. Dr. Shen Sheng from the Royal Academy of Cambodia noted that the production and sales of agricultural products in Cambodia face multiple challenges in areas such as logistics, power supply, financing, and technology. To guarantee the subsistence and development of Cambodian farmers, the country needs to take a wide range of measures in the institutional dimension. Professor Ning Libiao from Guizhou University analyzed China’s experience in guaranteeing the right to food. China’s people-centered philosophy and approach to people’s well-being have many narrations on guaranteeing access to food, so China has a cultural foundation in protecting the right to food. The CPC has always attached great importance to guaranteeing the people’s right to food and demonstrated a strong political will to protect the right to food; China has provided solid economic and legal support for the guarantee of the right to food. China’s approach to guaranteeing human rights through economic development is worth learning for other developing countries. Rin Fujiwara, an associate professor at Hakodate University in Japan, pointed out that in Japan, the balance between the right to food and environmental protection is embodied in the production of artificial meat. The resource efficiency of artificial meat is 35%, which is obviously higher than that of traditional beef production. Moreover, its impact on the environment compared to real meat is reduced by 98%. However, there is still a lack of necessary laws and regulations on this new technology. In the future, Japan’s laws and regulations on artificial meat will be based on regulations on the safety of genetically modified food, and adopt a case-by-case approval approach.

 

 

The full enjoyment of human rights is a common ideal and pursuit of human society. Climate change brings severe ecological and environmental problems and is triggering a human rights crisis worldwide. Today, people are increasingly aware that climate change is a matter of human rights, and mankind needs to seek solutions to tackle climate change and build a global consensus from the perspective of human rights, so as to protect people’s right to live in a clean, healthy and sustainable environment while guaranteeing the rights of vulnerable groups under the impacts of climate change. Considering the urgency of addressing climate change, a common challenge for Asian countries, the forum set its theme on “Environment, Climate Change and Human Rights.” It provided an efficient, vigorous dialogue platform for experts, scholars and social activists from various fields and across Asian countries. At the event, the participants discussed and exchanged their understandings of human rights and the latest theories in this field, shared views on the experiences and prospects of Asian countries in environmental protection and human rights development, and worked together to face up to the challenges climate change is creating for the human rights cause. Through reviewing the origins, cultural backgrounds and historical evolution of the Asian concept of human rights, participants analyzed the laws and regulations, juridical practices and protection paths concerning environmental rights in Asian countries and clarified the concepts of human rights and environmental rights from an Asian perspective. The human rights protection system and model of each Asian country have unique cultural attributes and historical backgrounds, and any country has the right to independently choose the development path that suits its national conditions. Meanwhile, human rights exchanges and cooperation among Asian countries boast a fine tradition and solid consensus. Against the backdrop of tackling climate change, we need to strengthen cooperation with unity, advance development through cooperation, and promote human rights through development. We also need to improve the common well-being of Asian people and accelerate the sustainable development of human rights civilization with Asian wisdom. The forum aimed to realize this goal by facilitating academic exchanges among Asian countries.

 

(Translated by LIU Haile)

 

* CAO Wei ( 曹炜 ), Associate Professor and Ph.D. in law at the Law School of the Renmin University of China.

 

** ZHANG Shu ( 张舒 ), Doctoral student at the Law School of the Renmin University of China.