Greg Thompson / USFWS (2012) CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN RIGHTS Aerial photo of Mantoloking, New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy 2.2 Governmental Obligations to Address the Human Rights Implications of Climate Change The obligations of governments with respect to international human rights are frequently characterized as entailing three types of duties:84 • The duty to respect human rights, a negative obligation, which requires states to refrain from taking actions that would interfere with or curtail the enjoyment of human rights. • The duty to protect human rights against violations by third parties. • The duty to fulfill human rights, a positive obligation, which requires states to undertake measures to ensure the realization of rights for all members of society. Some documents also refer to a duty to “promote” human rights, which can be understood as a related but distinct obligation to “promote universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights.”85 Another way to conceptualize government duties in this context is to divide them into 1) procedural obligations, 2) substantive obligations, and 3) obligations in relation to individuals who are members of specific groups. This approach is particularly helpful for understanding the linkages between different obligations, and so we use it here. 84 OHCHR, International Human Rights Law, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/InternationalLaw.aspx (last visited Oct. 6, 2015). 85 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Art. 1 (June 25, 1993) (endorsed by G.A. Res. 48/121). See also G.A. Res. 53/144, Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Art. 1 (Dec. 9, 1998) (noting states’ responsibility to “promote” human rights); M. Magdalena Sepúlveda, The Nature of the Obligations Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 157-167 (Intersentia 2003) (explaining typologies for human rights obligations). T H E O B L I G AT I O N S O F G O V E R N M E N T S A N D P R I VAT E A C T O R S T O R E S P O N D T O T H E H U M A N R I G H T S I M P L I C AT I O N S O F C L I M AT E C H A N G E 15