"GENEVA - A newly appointed U.N. expert on climate change and human rights said he will fight for legal protection for people driven across international borders by extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, he said on Thursday.

Ian Fry, a former negotiator for the tiny low-lying Pacific nation of Tuvalu which risks sinking due to rising sea levels, started last month as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change.

"We are faced with an intolerable tide of people moving from their homes due to the impacts of climate change," he said on Thursday, presenting his priorities to the U.N Human Rights Council in Geneva which created the new mandate."

Emma Farge reports for Reuters June 23, 2022. [2]