Debjani Bhattacharyya

Prof Debjani Bhattacharyya is a historian and holds the Chair of the History of the Anthropocene at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on the interface between climate history, legal history and the Anthropocene.

The human right to be cold

Debjani Bhattacharyya 13.07.2023 The climate-induced melting of Switzerland’s glaciers is not just an environmental issue, the legal implications are also huge. National sovereignty, the cornerstone of fundamental constitutional rights, is suddenly on thin ice (pardon the pun). Climate change impacts a whole host of international human rights. This raises the question of how we in Switzerland can guarantee the next global generation’s right to be cold irrespective of national borders.

The Morteratsch Glacier tongue receded by 2,185 m from 1900 to 2010. It has since almost entirely disappeared.