I. INTRODUCTION Global climate change is the most pressing ecological and human rights issue of our time. To protect our planet’s climate system and vital natural resources on which human survival and welfare depends, and to ensure that the fundamental and inalienable human rights of young people and future generations are protected, climate policies of States must be based on the best available climate science. The best climate science provides a prescription for climate recovery that requires States to collectively decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to below 350 parts per million (ppm) by 2100 and stabilize the long-term average global temperature increase at no higher than 1 degree Celsius (°C). This Honourable Commission on Human Rights (Commission) should utilize this clear scientific prescription as the standard Carbon Majors and States need to meet in order to uphold the rights of children now and into the future for an environment free of the worst effects of climate change. In setting such a standard of protection, this Commission will take an historic step to protect the fundamental human rights of all Filipinos, especially Filipino children, guaranteed by numerous international conventions and by the Constitution of the Philippines, a step that will be a touchstone for courts and political bodies of the world. Children of today and the future will disproportionately suffer from the dangers and catastrophic impacts of climate destabilization and ocean acidification. Indeed, the current generation of children are growing up during a time of increasing climate instability with threats from more frequent catastrophic weather events, increasing ocean acidification, loss of coastline and even entire geographic regions to rising sea levels, rising rates of epidemiological disease, dislocation, and social disruption. These threats will only intensify for future generations of Filipino children and children around the globe, who may never have a chance of realizing their human rights, unless urgent action by States and the Carbon Majors is taken to curtail emissions and restore natural sequestration services of plants and soil in line with the scientific standard of climate recovery. As a sovereign government, the Philippines has the authority and fiduciary public trust obligation to safeguard crucial natural resources so that current and future generations of Filipinos may enjoy their constitutional and public trust rights, including the right to a “balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.”1 This Commission would support the fulfillment of those obligations by establishing the responsibility of Carbon Majors to account and pay for the damage to the atmosphere and climate system that their actions have already caused and will continue to cause in the absence of climate policies and actions guided by the best available scientific standard for climate recovery. Setting the standard and establishing responsibility for the substantial impairment of these crucial public trust resources will support the Philippines’ ability to recover Natural Resource Damages (NRDs) from the Carbon Majors. Recovering Natural Resource Damages would help fund carbon sequestration programs in the Philippines and ensure that the government fulfills its obligation to safeguard crucial natural resources for current and future generations of Filipinos. 1 See Article II, Section 16 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, available at http://www.gov.ph/constitutions/1987constitution/. Our Children’s Trust Amicus Curiae Brief 1