Part III: Realizing human rights in a warming world “Time is running out to avoid dangerous climate change. This year, 2015, presents a unique opportunity to set the global community on a new path; away from fossil fuel based development and towards a sustainable alternative that will ensure the protection of the rights of generations to come.” Mary Robinson, President, Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice In order for States to realise their commitments to safeguard and uphold all human rights for all in the face of challenges posed by climate change and its impacts, they must act collectively and immediately. Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development calls for States to adopt a precautionary approach to environmental harms and act “when there are threats of serious or irreversible damage” even in the absence of full scientific certainty. In the case of climate change there is no uncertainty. Climate change has already done serious damage. The only uncertainty remaining is how much more damage it will cause. Under these circumstances, urgent preventative action is needed. Discussants agreed that immediate, coordinated climate action that effectively mobilizes resources to mitigate and adapt to climate change while protecting the rights of people affected by it is the only viable solution. The need for such action is supported by sound science, including the most recent report of the IPCC, which overwhelmingly confirms that humanity is headed down a dangerous path towards a warmer, more climate volatile, and less secure world. The panel discussions, the IPCC, and the growing political consensus in favour of urgent climate action, all demonstrate that the time for concrete, effective climate action is now. Since climate change directly contributes to the violation of human rights, States have an affirmative obligation to take measures to mitigate climate change, to prevent negative human rights impacts, and to ensure that all persons, particularly those in vulnerable situations, have adequate capacity to adapt to the growing climate crisis. Integrating human rights obligations in climate actions will improve outcomes by providing concrete measures to protect people from the harms of climate change. There is a growing body of evidence that a human rights-based approach will lead to more sustainable and effective results in climate action.53 A human rights perspective offers guidance for addressing climate through a broader lens that encompasses the economic, social, cultural and political dimensions of climate change. It can also reduce arbitrariness in climate change programs and objectives, and ensure that climate action benefits those who are most in need. The integration of human rights in climate action will promote significant involvement from UN bodies and mechanisms mandated to promote and protect human rights, and from civil society actors bringing additional resources to confront the challenge of climate change. In spite of this, concrete efforts at effective climate change mitigation and adaptation measures have been limited. In the course of the panel discussion, President Anote Tong posed the question “how much global effort are we putting into providing concrete, tangible action to help the vulnerable whose security and survival is very much on the line?” The answer so far has been not 53 See for example Caleb Stevens et. al., Securing Rights Combatting Climate Change: How Strengthening Community Forest Rights Mitigates Climate Change, Executive Summary (World Resources Institute 2014) available at http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/securingrights_executive_summary.pdf (last accessed 25 November 2015) (discussing the importance of indigenous and local communities’ forest rights for climate mitigation). Page 26 of 28