:-•=-==-='~ -~= -,..H=~·~·~·"=.l--:::;,.,c ==- -=·== ===---=-====~--==~o • Comply with the duty to protect individuals and communities against human rights abuses in the context of economic activities and ensure access to effective remedy for victims, particularly within the extractive industries. In addition, efforts should be made to ensure development of a range of strategies that enhance the country's ability to conserve and protect its environment and to empower local communities; • Prioritize vulnerability assessments, adaptation and mitigation financing and support for the urban poor, small farmers and coastal communities who are particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change; • Promote the conservation and management of agricultural biodiversity to ensure genetic diversity in order to sustain the natural resource base for farmer resilience, innovation and adaptation to climate change; • Enforce environmental laws to protect watersheds, forests and rivers, which are the primary sources of food. Mechanisms to prevent soil erosion and flooding and to enrich biodiversity should be implemented; • Implement human rights impact assessments as a means of building trust between the authorities in charge of development projects and the affected communities. Such a process should be conducted in a transparent manner, with the provision of adequate information to affected communities; include the full consideration of all alternatives; and be undertaken prior to the launch of any project, rather than as a means to validate a project that has already commenced; • Consolidate existing social protection schemes, to diminish fragmentation and bureaucratic procedures and ensure that targeting methods are employed with the aim of progressively achieving universal coverage. The Special Rapporteur cited two recommendations that we believe are the most relevant in the scope and context of the present study, i.e. first, the recommendation to protect individuals and communities against human rights abuses in the context of economic activities, such as agribusiness ventures, and to ensure access to effective remedy for victims, and second, the recommendation to implement human rights impact assessments as a means of building trust between the authorities in charge of development projects and the affected communities. Interestingly, the UNGP provides that while processes for assessing human rights impacts can be incorporated by businesses within other processes such as risk assessments or environmental and social impact assessments, they should include all internationally recognized human rights as a reference point, since enterprises may potentially impact virtually any of these rights. 81 Notably, two bills, among others, are often being mentioned by human rights bodies and special procedures in their concluding recommendations on how to realize economic, social and cultural rights in the Philippines, and which we consider most relevant in our present discussion. They are the National Land Use (NALU) Bill and the so called Zero-Hunger Bill. The recent concluding observations issued on October 7, 2016 by the Committee on ESCR further attest to this fact. The NALU Bill82 intends to solve the existing problems of overlapping land use by the formation of a single centralized government office, to be known as the National Land Use Commission under the Office of the President, that would coordinate the land use planning in both central and local government jurisdictions. It seeks to consolidate all existing laws on the matter and would divide land use into: • Protection land use, referring to the utilization of land primarily for food, water and energy security, rehabilitation, conservation, and protection purposes for the promotion of the country's ecological and life-support systems; 81 Commentary on Principle 18 of the UNGP 82 Found via https://www.senate.gov.ph!lisdata/1266710653!.pdf (accessed Oct. 28, 2016) 39