CASE STUDY: The Green Belt Movement The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is a Kenyan women’s NGO founded by the late Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai in 1977. It aims at empowering women and tackles issues directly linked to climate change mitigation, such as deforestation. Trees are planted by voluntary networks of women and their families, and provide income through fruit and other cash crops. Participants are also trained in sustainable agriculture, in order to diversify and increase the resiliency of their sources of income. Women benefit from extensive capacity-building so as to generate their own income and maintain sustainable livelihoods to help support their families. The GBM has also made a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. Carbon emissions are absorbed by planting new trees, and by improving the stewardship of existing trees. Sustainable agriculture and land use are also important elements of mitigation supported by the GBM. Since 1977, GBM communities have planted over 45 million trees in Kenya to restore natural forest cover and preserve essential ecosystems. Since the late 1980s, GBM has also been involved in advocacy activities to curb mismanagement of natural resources in Kenya by preventing forest destruction and ending poor governance and human rights abuses. 6.3 Understanding the Right to Family Life in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation Policies The right to family life offers many important insights in terms of climate change adaptation. For example, Article 10 of ICESCR emphasizes the family as a place of care and education for children, and also provides for guarantees against harmful forms of employment of children. Yet children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As such, States’ adaptation planning should place a special focus on child rights, including with respect to health and safety considerations, educational opportunities, and forced labour. Adaptation to climate change also entails preserving the unity of the family when individuals are forced to migrate. This concern is implied by the emphasis on the family unit in Article 10 of ICESCR. Adaptation plans require a consideration of how to manage climate migrations, including a focus on mechanisms to reunite separated families in an expedited manner. This planning also requires full cooperation between States, as climate migrants may cross national boundaries. Finally, States’ adaptation planning should also aim to empower women within the family unit as central decision-makers. 52