What does a bold vision for tackling climate change look like?
Please join Human Rights Watch’s Environment and Human Rights Director Richard Pearshouse for an exclusive briefing discussing a new agenda for climate justice. In the context of COP27 in Egypt and global attention being at a fever pitch, Human Rights Watch and their partners plan to advocate for the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as part of the new strategic three-year vision for their Environment and Human Rights Division. Richard Pearshouse will take a world view on how these proposals can have a positive impact on people living on the frontlines of environmental degradation and the worst environmental disasters of our time.


Richard Pearshouse is the director of Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. From 2018 to 2022, he was Head of Crisis and the Environment at Amnesty International, where he oversaw a diverse and multi-disciplinary team implementing demanding environmental research, advocacy, and campaigns in crisis- and conflict-affected countries. In locations including Brazil, Iraq, Mozambique, Cambodia, and West Papua, he led innovative and impactful work protecting communities at risk in resource-driven conflicts and strengthening legal protections for the environment during armed conflicts.

Richard previously worked at Human Rights Watch from 2008 to 2018, where he helped found HRW’s environment program and develop its main pillars of work as its associate director. His research and advocacy focused on threats against environmental defenders and their communities, and environmental health issues caused by exposure to toxic substances, including highly hazardous pesticides, arsenic, lead, mercury, and industrial chemicals.