With respect to climate change, she noted that “[e]xtreme weather events caused by climate change can create vicious circles by increasingly forcing persons living in extreme poverty to over-exploit natural resources as a coping mechanism to ensure survival.” Toxic Wastes. The Special Rapporteurs on toxic waste have made many statements on the effects of hazardous and toxic substances on human rights. For example, the Special Rapporteur on toxic waste from 2004 to 2010, Okechukwu Ibeanu, stated, “Toxic chemicals may constitute serious threats to human rights, the most serious being the right to life of the 47,000 persons estimated by WHO to die every year as a result of poisoning from chemicals like pesticides.” He explained that exposure to toxic chemicals can occur in various ways, including: exposure to everyday household and food products; exposure arising from employment in particular sectors (e.g., agricultural or the mining sector); exposure to chemicals in the disposal phase (e.g., electronic products and end-of-life ships); and exposure as a result of an accident (e.g., a leak from a pesticide plant). According to Calin Georgescu, the Special Rapporteur on toxic waste from 2010 to 2012, pathological waste, a type of infectious waste, can also pose a threat to the right to life through its potential to transmit life-threatening diseases, such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), viral hepatitis, typhoid fever, meningitis, and rabies. Georgescu explained that although “pathological waste, including anatomical waste, is often incinerated, there are several reports of illegal disposal together with non-hazardous municipal waste or illegal dumping in many regions of the world.” The Special Rapporteur further highlighted that the improper handling or disposal of hazardous medical waste can result in death, permanent or temporary disability, or injury. He cited a specific case in 1988 where four people died from acute radiation syndrome following the
The paper also asserted that it has become clear that “climate change will increase water stress in already dry areas, and will undermine water quality in areas flooded either by rain or by sea water. Areas particularly sensitive to climate change are coastal zones and cities, estuaries and deltas, watersheds, mountains, small islands and arid regions.” Moreover, the paper predicted that “the overall availability of water will be seriously impacted by climate change mainly through drought, the decline in water supplies stored in glaciers and snow cover, and flooding.” In already arid areas, climate models predict a major decrease in water availability due to climate change. Furthermore, the paper tied climate change to increasing rates of water pollution and salinization, and stated that this decline in water quality will reduce the availability of potable drinking water. The paper specified that “[i]ncreasing water temperatures, higher or lower groundwater levels, floods and droughts raise the threat of heightened micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards in drinking water,” and that “[f]loods and droughts will exacerbate many forms of water pollution such as sediments, nutrients, organic carbon, pathogens and pesticides, and may distribute human excreta and its attendant health risks across entire neighbourhoods and communities.” Moreover, sea-level rise will lead to increased salinization of groundwater. In general, although the paper acknowledged that meeting a human right to water and sanitation is a function of power, poverty, and inequality, and a failure of governments to prioritize water allocation, it nevertheless concluded that “the goal of improved safe access to drinking water will certainly be much harder to achieve in regions where runoff and groundwater recharge decrease as a result of climate change.”