What this is about

 Hello,

This is Maria. With this new blog I intend to share my thoughts and experiences as a ‘climate worker’. I have been dealing with climate change issues since 2009, from different organizations, in different countries and under changing roles. I have a mixed academic background, feed by international law, social economy, and environment and sustainable development. Above all these fields, my main driver has always been the defense and materialization of basic human rights; rights that are alive and evolve, adjusting to new needs and challenges. 

Maybe, as Mary Robinson pointed out, climate change is our biggest human rights challenge; David Attenborough also saw in climate change ‘the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced’. I agree with both of them, and also with Ban Ki-Moon, when he said that ‘addressing climate change presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all´. 

Climate change, well understood and well managed, brings many opportunities to protect and realize basic human rights in places where they are currently violated. The right to adequate food, the right to clean water, the right to health, or the right to housing, to mention a few. And the human right to a healthy environment, that, at the end of the day, encompasses all of them.

As I mentioned before, I pretend to share my own views and personal experiences in this field. I have been lucky enough to travel to fragile countries and to see in person what climate change is doing to many. I had the chance to sit and talk with politicians, national and local government staffs, farmers, herders, planners, companies, UN colleagues, international banks, universities, a bunch of people with different interests and fields of expertise that can contribute to a common goal; in my case, improve their food security by adapting to climate change. Most of them are keen to do, to help, to contribute to help their people. Sometimes they don’t know what to do, other times they know what to do but don’t know how, whom to reach, where to find the money, the support. Part of my job is to understand the possibilities, to bring concerned people together, and to discuss and agree on a join way forward. I will tell you about it soon.

Thanks for reading, see you soon

Maria





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