Climate change is among the greatest challenges of our time. Its adverse impacts undermine the ability of countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to fully realize and protect human rights worldwide. Policy-makers, experts and advocates are being faced with the challenge of developing and implementing effective solutions to counteract climate change, unsustainable practices and protect the environment under a human rights approach.
As part of training on environmental rule of law, UN Environment and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in partnership with United Nations Development Programme and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, co-developed and administered a course titled ‘Human Rights and Environmental Protection for Sustainable Development’. The course aims to equip policy makers, experts and advocates with the tools needed to develop and implement innovative public polices and laws for the protection of the environment and human rights, specifically targeting the relevant SDGs.
Ninety-five percent of participants agreed that the course content was relevant to their job, with 91 percent confirming that their expectations were met. Scholarships applications were received from 80 people and the course achieved full gender parity, with participants from 20 different countries.
Kenyan participant Catherine Abuto said of the course, “Environmental governance being my area of work, the course was really informative as it gave me an understanding of the interaction between human rights and the environment from a very practical perspective. One thing that stood out for me was that the course involved many real scenarios, drawn from real court cases across the world. This, I believe, is important because it gives the participants, from governments, civil society, students and international and national organizations, a clear picture of how important it is for environmental protection to contribute to upholding human rights and vice versa. I would recommend this course to anyone who has an interest in making a sustainable impact in the lives of our future generations. ”
This and more courses in International, Environmental and Human Rights Law can be found here.
