HPOD Events

Ensuring Disability Inclusion in the Global Climate Action Agenda

Call to Action ahead of the 28th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

Oct 03, 2023 Author: Mackenzie Saunders Events Climate Justice

Advocates and researchers alike are demanding that attendees at COP28 this fall ensure that global action on climate change is disability-inclusive. Image from PowerPoint 2023.

On Tuesday, October 3rd, HPOD hosted “Ensuring Disability Inclusion in the Global Climate Action Agenda,” a virtual call to action ahead of the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At COP28, State Parties and organizations from across the globe can help advance equitable and inclusive climate policy. This includes advancing disability-inclusive climate research; meaningfully involving persons with disabilities in climate action; funding grassroots climate organizations to spearhead disability-inclusive climate projects; and shining a light on communities that are disproportionately harmed by climate change, such as indigenous persons with disabilities.

Moderated by HPOD’s Executive Director, Professor Michael Ashley Stein, the interdisciplinary and intersectional panel of climate researchers and advocates brought their collective expertise to bear on these issues and more. Professor Stein opened the discussion by stressing the importance of disability inclusion in national and global climate action. Although climate change disproportionately harms persons with disabilities, natural disaster risk plans often fail to account for persons with disabilities. Consequently, persons with disabilities are often left without accessible evacuation options or excluded from disaster relief services Thus, Professor Stein urged stakeholders COP28 to address this equity gap by accounting for persons with disabilities in their climate action strategies.

Jayajit Chakraborty, Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and Director of the Socio-Environmental and Geospatial Analysis Lab, discussed the critical role of research on the effects of climate disasters on persons with disabilities. Little climate change research has focused on persons with disabilities, which contributes to a lack of disability inclusion in climate policy. Professor Chakraborty recommended improving infrastructure systems to provide more equitable protection and including persons with disabilities when conducting climate research and developing climate policy. He also called for more comprehensive datasets and surveys that provide data on both institutionalized and non-institutionalized persons with disabilities, while stressing that the effects of climate change on persons with disabilities must be studied as an intersectional issue.

Emina Ćerimović Senior Researcher at the Human Rights Watch's Disability Rights Division, emphasized the power of evidence and research in advocating for disability-inclusive climate action. Citing Human Rights Watch’s research on climate change’s effects on persons with disabilities during monsoon season in Bangladesh, floods in Germany, and heatwaves in Spain, Ćerimović highlighted the power of evocative personal testimonies. For example, Gabrielle Peters, a disabled policy analyst in Vancouver, is discussing heatwaves in Canada, said:

“There is a difference between facing the prospect of death because it is part of the reality of being human, and the prospect of death because you have been put in a situation where you should and could survive but have been denied the tools and means to do so.”

Ultimately, Ćerimović underscored the importance for States and researchers to collaborate with organizations of persons with disabilities to ensure their personal experiences and perspectives inform climate policy.

Yolanda Muñoz, Coordinator of the Disability Rights and Climate Justice Board at Global Greengrants Fund, discussed the vital role of donors in advancing grassroots-led research on the effects of climate change on persons with disabilities, focusing on the Global Greengrants Fund’s (GGF) efforts to address some of the current challenges to disability-inclusive climate action, including a disconnect between the climate justice and disability justice movements, as well as the need for environmental NGOs to allocate funds to include disability in their work. For example, GGF provides grants to grassroots organizations to produce projects related to climate change and disability rights, such as projects with Inclusiva (Chile) and the Loss and Damage Collaboration. Ultimately, Muñoz called for funders to reach out to grassroots organizations of persons with disabilities and provide grants for climate action efforts.

Sarah Sadlier, a History Ph.D. Candidate at Harvard University and member of the Wampanaog nation, discussed the importance of including indigenous peoples with disabilities in conversations on climate action. There is a stark lack of attention given to indigenous communities in climate action and policy, even though climate change disproportionately harms indigenous communities. For example, climate change is destroying indigenous sacred sites and food systems. Sadlier emphasized the need for proactive efforts to prevent the destruction of sacred sites and indigenous food systems, rather than retroactive efforts and compensation. She also emphasized how climate action work cannot be done without having indigenous people in the room, and urges states and stakeholders to involve indigenous communities — including indigenous persons with disabilities — in conversations about climate action. In particular, employing and compensating indigenous people when conducting climate change research and creating climate policies is critical to advancing equitable climate action.

Beyond COP28, other UN bodies have key roles in promoting disability-inclusive climate action. Notably, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which oversees implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), has announced its intention to prepare a general comment on Article 11 of the CRPD. Article 11 requires States Parties to take “all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.” Although Article 11 does not expressly mention climate change, in recent years the CRPD Committee has increasingly cited this provision to hold States Parties accountable for addressing the disproportionate effects of climate change on persons with disabilities.

In February 2022, HPOD called on the Committee to do more within its monitoring activities to impress upon States Parties their climate-related obligations under the CRPD — a call echoed by a host of similarly-minded organizations around the world. In its most recent period of sessions, the CRPD Committee, ever cognizant of the exacerbating climate crisis, issued its most robust recommendations for disability-inclusive climate action to date. It urged Andorra to “[a]dopt a gender- and disability-responsive strategy and plans to manage situations of crisis, humanitarian emergencies and climate change”; Germany to develop an “overarching disability inclusive, human rights-based strategy for all situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, including public health emergencies, climate change and disaster risk reduction”; and Mongolia to “[c]losely consult persons with disabilities through their representative organizations on the design and implementation of all disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation plans at the national and local levels and at all stages of the process,” among similar climate-related recommendations to Austria, Israel, Malawi, Mauritania, and Paraguay.

Hopefully, the COP28 participants will take heed of the calls from civil society and intergovernmental actors alike to ensure that persons with disabilities, who are disproportionately affected by climate change, are not forgotten from the global climate agenda.

This event summary's author, Mackenzie Saunders, is a Class of 2025 J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School.