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There should be a new human right: everyone should be entitled to equal access to the atmosphere. So say researchers attending a UN climate conference in Nairobi, Kenya, where countries are discussing how to limit global greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
A report launched at the conference today complains that discussion on climate change has been dominated by science and economics, with vital ethical dimensions being left out by governments and scientists alike.
Climate change violates the most basic human rights. It kills tens of thousands of people a year and threatens the survival of whole nations,
says Don Brown at the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University, US, who wrote the report with colleagues. Yet we haven't had a public discussion about the ethics of climate change. People have a right not to be harmed by others without their consent.
