Originally published January 16 2006
Inuit file suit against U.S. for failing to control greenhouse gas emissions
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
For the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has filed a petition that blames the U.S. for failing to control its greenhouse gas emissions, which has been impacting the livelihood of the Inuit by destroying their fish supplies and houses with seasonal melting induced by global warming.
The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) claims the US is failing to control emissions of greenhouse gases, damaging livelihoods in the Arctic.
Its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights demands that the US limits its emissions.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a vast scientific study which took four years to compile, found that the region will warm by four to seven degrees Celsius by the end of the century, with summer sea ice disappearing within 60 years.
The petition, filed on behalf of the ICC by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), says US policies on greenhouse gas emissions are a major factor driving these changes.
The petition asks the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate the harm caused to Inuit by global warming, and to declare the US "...in violation of rights affirmed in the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and other instruments of international law."
If the Commission rules in favour of the Inuit, it could refer the US to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for a legal judgement.
As the US has not ratified the Convention, a ruling by the Commission would be largely symbolic; but Donald Goldberg believes that does not make it worthless.
The petition is the latest in a series of legal or quasi-legal cases filed against the US government and others over climate change.
The US is being asked to protect coral species threatened by climate change, Australian authorities have been forced to review procedures plans for approving coal-fired power stations, while an application in Germany would force the government to declare what greenhouse gas emissions are produced by projects supported by its export credit agency.
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