JOINT Statement of the Special Procedure Mandate Holders of the Human Rights Council on the UN Climate Change Conference

"It is a matter of human rights,” stated a group of United Nations human rights experts just before the opening of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. While there is a growing consensus on the adverse impact that global warming is likely to have on the environment and economic growth, the serious threats it poses to the full enjoyment of a broad range of human rights still need to be properly understood and addressed.

“A weak outcome of the forthcoming climate change negotiations threatens to infringe upon human rights," the experts said. Rising sea levels, increasing ocean and surface temperature and extreme weather events like storms, droughts and cyclones have, and will continue to have, a range of direct and indirect implications for the enjoyment of human rights.

"Adaptation or mitigation measures, such as the promotion of alternative energy sources, forest conservation or tree-planting projects and resettlement schemes must be developed in accordance with human rights norms,” warned the experts. “Affected individuals and communities must participate, without discrimination, in the design and implementation of these projects." Inadequate mitigation and adaptation strategies can lead to human rights violations when, for example, tree planting efforts fail to ensure adequate participation of local communities or if due process is not respected for any necessary displacement.