Human Rights and the Environment

A month ago it was announced that eight residents of the Torres Strait Islands in Australia were bringing a human rights challenge against the Australian Government. These are a group of islands north of Queensland, home to a unique first nation people, who have inhabited the region for thousands of years, making it one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. They are threatened by climate change, which is already causing regular flooding of their land and homes and is predicted to get much worse. Rising sea temperatures are also affecting the health of the marine environment.