The link between human rights and the protection of the environment is increasingly recognized, fueled by the urgency of the climate crisis. There are no human rights on an unliveable planet.

The Use of Open Source Investigation Methods in Tracking Environmental Harms

The latest from our partnership in the University of California Digital Investigations Network, The Use of Open Source Investigation Methods in Tracking Environmental Harms shows how open source investigation methods can be used to document environmental harms globally using open source techniques, including how these methodologies are being used in research, litigation, and investigations.

Students worked over the last semester to collect the data, conducting a literature review and interviewing experts to produce this practitioner-centered report.

For those interested in applied techniques, it’s a must-read.

Leia a versão portuguesa do relatório // Lea la versión en español del informe

Read the English Version of the Report

Standing with Indigenous Land Defenders

The violence against Indigenous land defenders is as pervasive as it is shocking. Through our Reimagining Rights in the Americas Project, we are helping a number of Central American communities protect their environment, while seeking accountability for the atrocities and assassinations their communities have endured.

Learn More

Human Rights &
The Climate Crisis

Ecocide Law

Our focus on the environment and human rights has led to The Promise Institute helping develop ecocide law. This revolutionary new law has Greta Thunberg, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis and thousands more worldwide calling for its adoption.

Affiliated Faculty and The Promise Institute Europe Executive Director Kate Mackintosh was a key author of the law, noting “It’s obvious—on a moral and intuitive level—that destroying our planet should be considered an international crime.”

Our Role in Shaping Ecocide Law

Tracing the Roots of Climate Vulnerability

We are collaborating with NYU Law’s Global Justice Clinic on their Caribbean Climate Justice Initiative, seeking to understand how Haiti and the Dominican Republic’s suffering under colonialism, slavery and imperialism (and their resonance today) profoundly exacerbates the nations’ vulnerability in the face of climate change.

See the Latest