Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Why are South Korean babies and children suing their government?
Greta Thunberg, the world’s famous environmental activist, started her school
strike and protested outside the Swedish parliament calling for stronger action
on climate change when she was 15. Weekly student climate strikes took place
around the world after she gave an address at the 2018 United Nations Climate
Change Conference. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, participating governments
committed to making an effort to prevent global temperatures from rising by
more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, and South Korea was one of those countries that
made a legally binding commitment, having set a target to reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by 40% compared with levels in 2018. However, more than 60 children
in the country think the government is failing to protect its people from the
harms of climate change and brought the case to court. And there are several other
cases brought to court, too. Indeed, climate change is not just a global and
inter-governmental but also an inter-generational issue. It might be one of the
background for South Korea’s lowest birth rate in the world.
Read the article and learn about how unsatisfied Korean children are
about plans and actions to curb climate change.
No comments:
Post a Comment