{"id":129510,"date":"2025-11-12T17:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/129510\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:20:08","slug":"fossil-fuel-infrastructure-puts-rights-of-2-billion-people-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/129510\/","title":{"rendered":"Fossil fuel infrastructure puts rights of 2 billion people at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re experiencing intergenerational battle fatigue\u2026 We physically won\u2019t survive [this]. We were never the instigators but we have taken the brunt of all the violence,\u201d said Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defender Tsak\u00eb ze\u2019 Sleydo\u2019 (Molly Wickham), while describing the imminent construction of new compressors set to increase the profitability of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline<\/a> in Canada.<\/p>\n

Extracting, processing and transporting fossil fuels undermines the human rights of neighbouring communities and causes severe environmental degradation, health risks<\/a>, and loss of culture and livelihood.<\/p>\n

Some of the groups interviewed described extraction as a form of economic or cultural pillage, perpetrated by corporate actors through intimidation and coercion. \u201cWe are not after money; we only want what is ours. We just want to fish in Guanabara Bay, it\u2019s our right. And they are taking our rights,\u201d said Bruno Alves de Vega, an urban artisanal fisher from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<\/p>\n

All environmental human rights and Indigenous land defenders interviewed by Amnesty International faced severe safety and security risks<\/a>, often stemming from disputes with companies whose activities threaten traditional ways of life and ecosystem integrity.<\/p>\n

The fossil fuel era is inevitably coming to an end and states must stop criminalizing environmental human rights defenders fighting to protect their communities.<\/p>\n

Candy Ofime, Researcher and Legal Advisor on climate justice at Amnesty International<\/p>\n

Beyond physical and online threats, states and corporate actors have relied on lawfare, abusing legal action, including criminal proceedings, to silence, delegitimize and intimidate defenders. \u201cWhen we rise up to defend the Yin\u2019tah (Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en territory), we are criminalized. Civil injunctions are a colonial legal weapon that has become a mechanism for the militarization of our community, criminalization of our People, and for companies to carry out destructive extraction without Indigenous consent,\u201d said other Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en land defenders.<\/p>\n

Members of communities living in close proximity to fossil fuel infrastructure condemned the lack of direct and meaningful consultation and transparency from corporate actors. Many reported not fully understanding the scope of operators\u2019 ongoing activities or expansion plans and stated that they had not consented to projects affecting their territory.<\/p>\n

People interviewed by Amnesty International in the Saloum Delta in Senegal raised concerns regarding the poor dissemination of accessible information about the potential environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Sangomar project<\/a> by authorities and project operator Woodside, a major Australian fossil fuel company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese case studies are but a few examples of a globalized problem. Most affected groups condemned the power imbalance between their communities and corporate operators, as well as the lack of effective remedy. The fossil fuel era is inevitably coming to an end and states must stop criminalizing environmental human rights defenders fighting to protect their communities,\u201d said Candy Ofime, Researcher and Legal Advisor on climate justice at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates must investigate physical and online threats defenders face and put in place robust protection programmes to ensure critical voices advocating for an urgent and equitable energy transition can safely and meaningfully shape climate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Destruction of irreplaceable natural ecosystems<\/p>\n

Most of the projects documented created pollution hotspots, turning nearby communities and critical ecosystems into \u2018sacrifice zones\u2019.** Exploration, processing, site development, transportation and decommissioning of fossil fuels caused or risked harm to people and wildlife, led to severe pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and damaged key biodiversity areas or carbon sinks.<\/p>\n

Despite commitments made under international climate agreements and repeated calls by the UN to urgently phase out fossil fuels, government actions have been wholly inadequate. Fossil fuels still account for 80% of the global primary energy supply, while the industry is intensifying efforts to exert undue influence in climate policy forums to prevent their rapid phase out.<\/p>\n

We must resist collectively and demand that world leaders deliver on their obligations and commitments. Humanity must win.<\/p>\n

Agn\u00e8s Callamard<\/p>\n

\u201cStates should be embarking on a full, fast, fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels, and a just transition to renewable energy produced in a manner consistent with human rights<\/a>. Amnesty International urgently calls for the adoption and implementation of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty<\/a>,\u201d said Agn\u00e8s Callamard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate crisis is a manifestation and catalyst of deep-rooted injustices. This report responds to the host nation Brazil\u2019s vision for this year\u2019s COP30 to be a forum for the meaningful participation of forest peoples, including Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities and civil society. Our report exposes the magnitude of climate and human rights harms associated with fossil fuel production across the world, illustrating the industry\u2019s disparate impact on Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities and highlighting the resistance they are mounting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fossil fuel industry and its state sponsors have argued for decades that human development requires fossil fuels. But we know that under the guise of economic growth, they have served instead greed and profits without red lines, violated rights with near-complete impunity and destroyed the atmosphere, biosphere and oceans. Against these continuing patterns, against the global fossil fuel political economy of repression, we must resist collectively and demand that world leaders deliver on their obligations and commitments. Humanity must win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key terms<\/p>\n

*Critical ecosystems: natural environments that are rich in biodiversity, critical for carbon sequestration and\/or where continued environmental degradation or disasters would trigger cascading ecosystem collapse.<\/p>\n

** Sacrifice zone: a heavily contaminated area where low-income and marginalized groups bear the disproportionate burden of exposure to pollution and toxic substances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re experiencing intergenerational battle fatigue\u2026 We physically won\u2019t survive [this]. We were never the instigators but we have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-129510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}