Possible Impacts of Climate Change on the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living Climate change poses several obvious challenges to the fulfillment of the right to an adequate standard of living. Climate change and its effects are progressively threatening livelihoods and food security.268 Extreme weather events, changes in the suitability of arable land, and fluctuations in water supply are projected to reduce agricultural production, thereby affecting the availability of food. Access to food will also be worsened by damage to infrastructure and destruction of livelihoods caused by climate change events, while the stability of the food supply could be affected by increases in food price and a higher dependency on imported foods and food aid. Moreover, the utilization of food could be indirectly influenced by food safety hazards associated with pests and animal diseases, and a greater prevalence of waterborne diseases such as cholera.269 The impact of climate change on the right to adequate food will have a disproportionate effect on the developing world. Climate change is projected to decrease crop productivity at lower latitudes, increasing the risk of hunger and food insecurity in the poorer regions of the world.270 Poor communities living in developing countries are also particularly vulnerable given that they are disproportionately dependent on climate-sensitive resources for their food and livelihoods.271 Climate change may also impact upon the right to housing in many ways. A 2009 report by the OHCHR observes that sea level rise and storm surges have had, and will continue to have, a direct impact on a number of coastal settlements, leading to the relocation of communities.272 The report also notes that settlements in low-lying mega-deltas are particularly at risk, “as evidenced by the millions of people and homes affected by flooding in recent years,”273 and that: [t]he erosion of livelihoods, partly caused by climate change, is a main ‘push’ factor for increasing rural to urban migration. Many will move to urban slums and informal settlements where they are often forced to build shelters in hazardous areas. Already today, an estimated one billion people live in urban slums on fragile hillsides or flood-prone river banks and face acute vulnerability to extreme climate events.274 Similarly, the IPCC observes that climate change may generate a series of phenomena provoking population migrations, including the disruption of settlements, commerce, transport and societies due to flooding; pressures on urban and rural infrastructure; loss of property; decreased freshwater availability due to saltwater intrusion; power outages causing the disruption of public water supply; contamination of water supply; and withdrawal of risk coverage in vulnerable areas by private insurers275. Climate change is also projected to have a serious impact on water quantity and quality, and will ultimately have a negative effect on the enjoyment of the right to water. The OHCHR report on climate change and human rights asserts that: [l]oss of glaciers and reductions in snow cover are projected to increase and to negatively affect water availability for more than one-sixth of the world’s population supplied by melt water from mountain ranges. Weather extremes, such as drought and flooding, will also impact on water supplies. Climate change will thus exacerbate 65