Malé_Declaration_on_the_Human_Dimension_of_Global_Climate_Change
Malé Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change
Treaty on climate change and human rights
The Malé Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change is a treaty made by representatives of several Small Island Developing States who came together to sign the declaration in November 2007. The Declaration's goal was to lay out a clear strategy to link climate change and human rights together. The Declaration also sought to change the agenda of the campaign to combat climate change from focusing on only the environmental impacts of climate change to also taking into account the human rights impacts of climate change.[1] The Declaration makes clear that the right to a healthy environment is a prerequisite of all other basic human rights.[2]
The Maldives, one signatory of the Declaration and whose capital Malé lends its name to the document, climate change has already begun to affect the human rights of the population. As such, the Maldives and other island nations have begun to construct an international coalition which uses human rights as a framework for combating climate change. The coalition in question has organized meetings on the topic of the Declaration in Geneva, New York, and Malé.[3]