Ann Carlson in UCLA Newsroom: UCLA Law conference will explore connection between human rights and the climate crisis

“Human Rights and the Climate Crisis” will bring together leading lawyers, scholars and activists to examine how laws that guarantee the rights to life, health, food, an adequate standard of living, and other human rights, can be applied to seek redress for the harm that climate change is creating. 

“The Juliana lawyers introduced a very persuasive case that the U.S. Constitution should recognize the children’s right to a safe climate system,” said Ann Carlson, UCLA’s Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law. “While the Ninth Circuit ultimately dismissed the case, advocates will be looking to the Juliana case for lessons in how to move rights-based arguments forward — in the U.S. and around the world.”

The conference will also feature discussion of a movement to designate environmental destruction as an international crime, which could open new legal avenues for activists and advocates working to protect the planet.