IACHR: States must ensure climate justice for people of African descent

August 29, 2025

Washington, DC—On the occasion of the International Day for People of African Descent, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) call on States to adopt a human rights–based and equity-centered approach to addressing the disproportionate and differentiated impacts of the climate emergency. This requires participatory public policies that specifically respond to how this crisis impacts people of African descent.

Climate change is a human rights emergency with far-reaching effects on life, health, food, housing, work, and access to drinking water throughout the Americas. The intensification of extreme events—such as prolonged droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and rising sea levels—are destabilizing ecosystems and having a profound impact on millions of people, particularly those already facing poverty and social exclusion.

People of African descent experience the climate emergency in ways compounded by structural and environmental racism. They have historically been denied access to land, water, and meaningful participation in public life, and their territories are often the sites of waste dumps and polluting industries. As a result, people of African descent are among the most vulnerable to the devastating effects of climate change—especially in the case of women, older people, and people with disabilities—despite being those who contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions, as noted in the IACHR report Poverty, Climate Change, and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

In its recent report on the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, REDESCA documented how communities of African descent and Quilombola communities were disproportionately affected by the disaster, which brought losses that were compounded by their historic lack of access to safe land, basic services, and land titling processes. These findings underscore the risks and vulnerabilities of communities of African descent during disasters and reaffirm the urgency of climate policies rooted in racial and intersectional justice.

In line with Advisory Opinion 32-25, recently issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights and the Protocol of San Salvador require States to adopt urgent and effective measures to address the climate emergency, ensuring increased protection of the rights to life, personal integrity, health, food, housing, water, a healthy environment, and cultural identity. To comply with this obligation, States must gather comprehensive, disaggregated data on risks to people and ecosystems, identifying and adopting differentiated measures to protect population groups that are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis.

The disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on communities of African descent is an example of racial inequality and threatens their identity, culture, and very survival. This situation is compounded by the degradation of their ancestral territories and their exclusion from public decision-making processes. Climate justice requires environmental policies that take an antidiscrimination approach and recognize the role of communities of African descent in preserving ecosystems and building a sustainable future. As the FAO has noted, they can make key contributions to climate mitigation through ancestral knowledge and collective practices, as can Indigenous communities.

The IACHR and REDESCA urge States to act urgently, ensuring climate and environmental policies based on human rights and the principles of climate justice and racial equality. This requires States to cut emissions and guarantee a just energy transition; protect the ancestral territories of communities of African descent, ensuring the free, prior, and informed consent of their communities and their participation in public life; eliminate barriers to access to information; and ensure full reparations for human rights violations; ensure full reparations for rights violations; and expand equitable climate financing for adaptation and resilience.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights was created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to better promote and protect economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights across the Americas and to lead the IACHR’s efforts in this area.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate stems from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as an advisory body to the OAS on the matter. The IACHR is made up of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 177/25

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