Submission in Support of Petitioners Case No. CHR-NI-2016-0001 and protected without discrimination of any kind.128 Recognizing that certain groups are more likely to endure violations of their human rights (e.g., women, children, and indigenous peoples), the UN has established more detailed frameworks for the protection of these groups – specifically: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Woman (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The OHCHR has recognized that the negative impacts of climate change “will disproportionately affect individuals, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations, including women, children, older persons, indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants, rural workers, persons with disabilities, the poor, and those living in vulnerable areas (e.g., small islands, riparian and low-lying coastal zones, arid regions, and the poles).”129 The IPCC has similarly found that “people who are socially, economically, politically, institutionally or otherwise marginalized are especially vulnerable to climate change.”130 The vulnerability of these groups is a product of both heightened exposure to climate change impacts as well as limited capacity to adapt to those impacts. In the Philippines, farmers and fishermen – some of the poorest groups (with poverty incidences of 45% and 50% respectively) – are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to their high dependence on natural resources that are affected by climate change and their lack of resources to adapt, e.g., by finding new livelihoods.131 These groups have already been disproportionately affected by sudden-onset disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan,132 as well as more gradual changes brought about by climate change (e.g., reductions in precipitation and rising ocean temperatures).133 People living in informal urban settlements are also among the most vulnerable to climate change, due both to the direct impacts of climate change and the additional pressure placed on urban systems and 128 ICESCR Art 2(2); ICCPR Art. 2(1). OHCHR, The Rights of Those Disproportionately Impacted by Climate Change (2016) at 1. 130 IPCC WGII (2014), supra note 8, at 6. 131 World Bank (2013) supra note 41, at 13. 132 See FAO, Severe Damage to Agriculture and Fisheries After Haiyan (Nov. 12, 2013); OXFAM & NFR, Rebuilding Fishing Communities and Fisheries: Post-Haiyan Reconstruction in the Philippines, Joint Agency Briefing Note (Feb. 12, 2014). 133 See Dennis Jay Santos, El Niño hits Philippines Farmers with Drought, Rats, IRIN (Feb. 19, 2016); Greenpeace, Philippines Seas in Crisis: Imminent Threats from Climate Change, Pollution and Overfishing (Oct. 25, 2012); Pierre Fidenci, Colossal Coral Bleaching Kills up to 95% of Corals in the Philippines, MONAGABAY, Sept. 23, 2010. 129 Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School 24

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