Vigod Memorial Lecture in Human Rights Delivered by Dr. David Boyd
7 PM (Atlantic) via Zoom
Sponsored by the St. Thomas University Atlantic Human Rights Centre
Register HERE.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment Dr. David Boyd will deliver the 2021 Vigod Memorial Lecture in Human Rights. His lecture, “The Transformative Potential of the Right to a Healthy Environment,” will be livestreamed on zoom on Thursday, October 14 at 7PM (ADT).
REGISTER HERE:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__CdBS8hpTmuYerrpvHluMg
Confronted by a global environmental crisis, scientists are calling for rapid, systemic and transformative changes to all aspects of society. The global recognition of the right to a healthy and sustainable environment could be a catalyst for the needed changes, just as human rights produced transformative changes related to slavery, women's rights, civil rights, the end of apartheid, and Indigenous rights. The time has come to add the right to a healthy environment to the library of fundamental human rights enjoyed by everyone.
“All human rights ultimately depend on a healthy planet, which is needed for the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat,” Dr. Boyd said. “The right to a healthy environment points humanity towards a just, healthy and sustainable future on Earth, in harmony with the rest of Nature.”
Dr. David R. Boyd is the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment (serving a second term from 2021-2024) and an associate professor of law, policy, and sustainability at the University of British Columbia.
He has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies from UBC, a law degree from the University of Toronto, and a business degree from the University of Alberta. He served as the executive director of Ecojustice, argued cases at the Supreme Court of Canada, and worked as a special advisor on sustainability for Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. He has advised many governments on environmental, constitutional, and human rights policy and co-chaired Vancouver’s effort to become the world’s greenest city by 2020.
Boyd is also the author of ten books and over 100 reports and articles on environmental law and policy, human rights, and constitutional law. His books include The Rights of Nature (ECW Press, 2017), The Optimistic Environmentalist (ECW Press, 2015), and The Environmental Rights Revolution (UBC Press, 2012).