Jointly hosted by the Scottish Government, Scottish Human Rights Commission, SEPA, and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV), this major conference on climate justice will help to shape the action Scotland can take to tackle the effects of climate change at home, and overseas.  It will include a keynote address from Finance Secretary John Swinney, and a video address from Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Delegates will also hear from Farah Kabir of Action Aid UK who will tell delegates of her experiences as Country Director for Bangladesh, where climate change is having a devastating effect on millions of people faced with flooding, higher temperatures and land erosion.  Amongst the delegates will be around 50 young people from two Glasgow high schools to ensure that the voices of young people are heard in the debate.

 

The conference will bring the human cost of climate change into sharp focus just days before the start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. In Scotland, climate justice throws a spotlight on the way quickly changing weather patterns affect our economy, communities and landscape, especially for vulnerable groups. In other countries climate justice is being debated in terms of mass migration, the balance of industrial development and pollution, and access to water, land and food.  There will also be a Marketplace where third sector groups and agencies will discuss the work they are carrying out on climate justice in Scotland.