1. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE REGIME 1.1 Introduction to Climate Change and Human Rights Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. Its impacts will be myriad, and include extreme weather events (such as floods, cyclones and droughts), increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, changes in precipitation patterns, melting permafrost, receding coastlines, and loss of territory. Indeed, many of these effects are already being felt by communities around the world, and with current projections of warming by as much as 4°C this century1, such impacts are set to increase dramatically. These phenomena also have direct impacts on human populations – affecting core rights such as the right to health, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to work, and the right to culture. Crucially, the enjoyment of these rights will be affected not only by the effects of climate change itself, but also by States’ mitigation and adaptation responses. Mitigation refers to efforts to reduce or prevent the emission of greenhouse gases,2 while adaptation means “anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause.”3 The particular ways in which mitigation and adaptation responses may impact economic, social and cultural rights is the subject of the chapters that follow. Examples of the Impact of Climate Change on Human Rights4 UDHR = Universal Declaration of Human Rights; ICCPR = International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; ICESCR = International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; CEDAW = Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; ICRC = Convention on the Rights of the Child. 5