Princess Esmeralda of Belgium, the Chair of FRIENDSHIP Belgium spoke about the human rights at the centre of the climate crisis.
She said: "The climate and ecological crisis is above all, a crisis of human rights. We talk about climate and we forget the human aspect - it's an attack on our most basic rights, to food, to water, to shelter. We cannot address this crisis unless we address inequality. We have different kinds of injustice: the global South - the countries who have participated least in the climate crisis are suffering the most. This geographical injustice is happening right before our eyes, and it's happening all the time.
"When the European colonial powers went to the global South and stole all their wealth, it started there. Unfortunately, still today we have neo-colonialism where multinationals are taking resources from the Global South to benefit the Western countries.
"Women and girls suffer the most because of the roles they have in society around food and water. 40billion hours spent getting food and water yearly in SSA. This is a gender injustice. We know that after big climate disasters they don't go back to school. BUT Women are agents of change, but unfortunately they don't have ownership of land, skills or training.
"Last, Indigenous rights: Indigenous communities are suffering; they are displaced and sometimes killed. They are the defenders of our biodiversity who have the most knowledge and ability to protect their land and 80% of our biodiversity.
"Gender, indigenous, geographical, historical: these are all the injustices we're seeing. Today we have seen there's a better way of doing things. Listening to local communities, engaging in dialogue."
Annette McGill