Transitioning off fossil fuels isn’t all sunshine and roses. Experts from around Columbia Climate School weigh in on how governments and developers can move forward responsibly.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia. v. EPA, rulings in other countries demonstrate that courts worldwide remain an important forum for potentially advancing climate rights.

Indigenous communities are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, leading the way for innovative actions rooted in first-hand experiences of climate disasters and shifts, and knowledge transferred across generations.

A conversation on the critical need for embedding human rights, especially those of indigenous communities, within the renewable energy sector, and the hurdles of pursuing environmental justice without compromising human rights.

A new report documents the social, environmental, economic, and health impacts of gold mining in Porgera, Papua New Guinea.

This proposed declaration includes a number of rights, and specifically mentions that water resources in mountain ecosystems should be protected against pollution from mining activities.

When disaster strikes, prisoners’ rights are often forgotten about. A new paper recommends changes that can help protect them.

For people around the world, land is a source of food, shelter, and livelihoods. Given their importance, land rights are surely human rights—right?

From late December 2015 through January, a team of Earth Institute scientists and human rights lawyers from Columbia University worked in the highlands of Papua New Guinea to deliver the results of an independent study of water quality and human rights to the indigenous communities living near an industrial gold mine.

Despite the UN’s 2010 resolution on the human right to water, debate continues over how useful a rights approach really is. Even if we identify water as a human right, where the state is the principal duty-bearer, will it improve access to water for communities in need?