CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND VULNERABILITY

Abstract

Climate change is affecting people all over the world, but the consequences of this problem fall more heavily on segments of the population in vulnerable situations, such as indigenous peoples, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities. In July 2022, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 76/300, recognizing that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right, and calling upon States to intensify their efforts to ensure its preservation. In the Latin American and Caribbean context, the Escazú Agreement emerges as a multilateral instrument to implement Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992), combat climate injustice and environmental inequalities, and strengthen the Environmental Rule of Law by adopting a rights-based approach to environmental protection. This Agreement ensures that minority and vulnerable groups have effective access to environmental information, receive equal treatment, open and inclusive participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. In Brazil, this treaty aligns the country with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and reinforces, especially in the ecological aspect, the provisions of Article 4, VII, VIII, X, and XI, of Federal Complementary Law 80/1994, which establishes as an institutional function of the Public Defender's Office the defense of the individual and collective interests of people and groups in socio-environmental vulnerable situations.