Memorandum for the Petitioners \ 92
8.56. The World Health Organization (WHO ) estimates that between
2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000
additional deaths per year from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress
alone.396 Climate change can also affect mortality in other ways that are more
difficult to quantify, such as by undermining livelihoods and displacing
people from their homes, or exacerbating violent conflict over scarce
resources.
r
8. 57. In relation to the link between the right to life and climate
change, David R. Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the
Environment, issued a statement on the human rights obligations related to
climate change, with a focus on the right to life, 397 for a climate case in
Ireland , entitled “ Friends of the Irish Environment CLG v. The Government
of Ireland, Ireland and the Attorney General.” The UN Special Rapporteur
stated that: “(t)here is no doubt that climate change is already violating the
right to life and other human rights today. In the future, these violations will
expand in terms of geographic scope, severity, and the number of people
affected unless effective measures are implemented in the short term to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and protect natural carbon sinks.”398
8.58. In the Philippines, the most significant climate-related threats to
life include increases in storm intensity, extreme rainfall, flooding, and
landslides, the effects of which will be exacerbated by sea-level rise in coastal
areas, as well as prolonged droughts and heat waves. Severe storms like super
typhoon Haiyan have already claimed tens of thousands of lives.399
r
8.59. Testimonies of community witnesses and survivors Ms. Marinel
S. Ubaldo,400 Ms. Marielle Trixie J . Bacason,401 and Arthur S. Golong,402 who
have seen losses of lives of friends and community members due to super
typhoon Haiyan, and Ms. Amalia Baihan,403 who lost three (3) children and
four (4) grandchildren, including a son-in-law, and Ms. Honeylyn A.
Gonzales,404 who lost her parents and elder brothers, all due to tropical storm
Schachter, B., supra note 394; Also see World Health Organization (2014), Quantitative risk assessment
of the effects of climate change on selected causes of death, 2030s and 2050s , p. 1, available at
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream /handle/10665/134014/978924150769 l eng.pdf ?sequence= 1&isAllowed
=y ( last accessed on 12 September 2019).
397
Schacter, B., supra note 394.
398
Boyd , D. (25 October 2018), UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment, Statement on
the human rights obligations related to climate change, with a particular focus on the right to life, para. 58,
p. 13 , available at
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ Issues/Environment/FriendsIrishEnvironment25Oct2018.pdf ( last
accessed on 12 September 2019).
399
Joint Summary of the Amicus Curiae, supra note 50, p. 23.
400
Exhibit “MMMMMM” to “MMMMMM 5,” Salaysay ni Marinel S. Ubaldo, dated 07 September 2018.
401
Exhibit ‘‘NNNNNNN” to “NNNNNNN 6,” Statement of Ms. Marielle Trixie J. Bacason, dated 22
October 2018.
402
Exhibit “LLLL” to “LLLL-4,” supra note 11 .
403 Exhibit
“CCCCCCCCC” to “CCCCCCCCC-3 ” supra note 15.
404
Exhibit “111111111” to “111111111-4 ” supra note 15.
396
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