By: Priscila Neri
Witness: www.witness.org
What images come to mind when you think of human rights? Pictures of torture, unjust detention, police brutality, political persecution? Or do you think about climate change? What about when you think of the environmental movement? Do you picture polluted oceans, destroyed forests, endangered wildlife? Or do you think about people?
Although the environmental and human rights movements are sometimes perceived as two different things – especially in many developed countries like the United States – in much of the world they are closely intertwined.
In March 2009, Kelly Matheson and I traveled to the annual meeting of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide to speak with activists from around the world about this connection. We asked them: do environmental rights equal human rights?
The responses we heard were so illuminating that we decided to make this short video :
