Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action

Gasparri, Giulia; Tcholakov, Yassen; Gepp, Sophie; Guerreschi, Asia; Ayowole, Damilola; Okwudili, Élitz-Doris; Uwandu, Euphemia; Sanchez Iturregui, Rodrigo; Amer, Saad; Beaudoin, Simon; Sato, Mayumi

doi:10.3390/ijerph19084840

Open AccessCommentary

Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action

by

Giulia Gasparri

^1,*,†

,

Yassen Tcholakov

^2,†

,

Sophie Gepp

^3,†,

Asia Guerreschi

^4,†

,

Damilola Ayowole

^5,†

,

Élitz-Doris Okwudili

^6,†

,

Euphemia Uwandu

^7,†

,

Rodrigo Sanchez Iturregui

^8,†

,

Saad Amer

^9,†,

Simon Beaudoin

^10,†

and

Mayumi Sato

^11,†

¹

Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9EP, UK

²

Department of Epidemiology Biostatistics and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 1G1, Canada

³

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany

⁴

Department of Humanities, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy

⁵

Department of Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife 220101, Nigeria

⁶

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Abuja 900103, Nigeria

⁷

Concerned Group for Environment, Population and Development in Nigeria (N-COGEP-D), Owerri 460242, Nigeria

⁸

School of Medicine, Faculty of Human Medicine, Antenor Orrego Private University, Trujillo 13009, Peru

⁹

Plus1Vote, New York, NY 33301, USA

¹⁰

Department of Politics and International Studies, Faculty of Human, Social and Political Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9DP, UK

¹¹

Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness, Samuel Belonging Lab, Toronto, ON M4W 2C1, Canada

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^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

All authors wrote this commentary as members of YOUNGO, the Children and Youth Constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4840; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084840

Submission received: 24 January 2022 / Revised: 18 March 2022 / Accepted: 5 April 2022 / Published: 15 April 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change, Public Health & Human Rights)

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Abstract

Climate change is a multidimensional issue that affects all aspects of society, including public health and human rights. Climate change is already severely impacting people’s health and threatening people’s guaranteed fundamental rights, including those to life, health, self-determination, and education, among others. Across geographical regions, population groups and communities who are already marginalized due to age, gender, ethnicity, income, and other socioeconomic factors, are those who are disproportionately affected by climate impacts despite having contributed the least to global emissions. Although scholars have been calling for a human rights-based approach and a health perspective to climate action, the literature looking at this multidisciplinary intersection is still nascent, and governments have yet to implement such intersectoral policies. This commentary begins to reflect on the relationship between climate change, human rights, and public health from the perspective of young people engaged in climate action and discourse at the national and international levels. It presents a way forward on what we, as youth climate advocates and researchers, believe is a priority to bring intersectoral integration of human rights and public health approaches to climate change to fruition. First, scholars and practitioners should examine and support youth-led climate interventions that tackle human rights and public health violations incurred by the climate crisis. Second, participatory approaches to climate change must be designed by working synergistically with climate-vulnerable groups, including children and young people, practitioners and scholars in public health and human rights sectors to holistically address the social, health, and environmental impacts of the climate crisis and root causes of injustice. Finally, we recommend more holistic data collection to better inform evidence-based climate policies that operationalize human rights and public health co-benefits.

Keywords: climate change; public health; human rights; co-benefits; intersectionality; youth engagement

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gasparri, G.; Tcholakov, Y.; Gepp, S.; Guerreschi, A.; Ayowole, D.; Okwudili, É.-D.; Uwandu, E.; Sanchez Iturregui, R.; Amer, S.; Beaudoin, S.; et al. Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 4840. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084840

AMA Style

Gasparri G, Tcholakov Y, Gepp S, Guerreschi A, Ayowole D, Okwudili É-D, Uwandu E, Sanchez Iturregui R, Amer S, Beaudoin S, et al. Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(8):4840. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084840

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gasparri, Giulia, Yassen Tcholakov, Sophie Gepp, Asia Guerreschi, Damilola Ayowole, Élitz-Doris Okwudili, Euphemia Uwandu, Rodrigo Sanchez Iturregui, Saad Amer, Simon Beaudoin, and et al. 2022. "Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 8: 4840. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084840

APA Style

Gasparri, G., Tcholakov, Y., Gepp, S., Guerreschi, A., Ayowole, D., Okwudili, É.-D., Uwandu, E., Sanchez Iturregui, R., Amer, S., Beaudoin, S., & Sato, M. (2022). Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4840. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084840

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Integrating Youth Perspectives: Adopting a Human Rights and Public Health Approach to Climate Action

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