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Last Update: July 16, 2008
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- Paper Pulp Mills - Uruguay
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- Climate Change and Human Rights
CEDHA promotes a rights-based approach to Climate Change within the World Bank consultation on Climate Change
July 2008 - Under the first phase of public consultations on the Strategic Framework on Climate Change and Development that the World Bank Group (SFCCD), has been developing, the Centre for Human Rights and Environment of Argentina (CEDHA) presented an opinion document about the deep linkage between Human Rights (HR) and the ongoing process of climate change, and the urgent need that the international finance institutions should comply with human rights commitments and that they should take responsibility facing development challenges.
CEDHA stated that the World Bank Group must, through a collaborative effort of its various agencies (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA) should promote a development and rights-based approach to Climate Change policy, emphasizing the need to promote Mitigation and Adaptation policies, programs, and financing for developing countries, and particularly for climate vulnerable States and communities.
The rights-based approach understands that the trends we are seeing as a result of climate change directly impact climate vulnerable States and communities capacity to realize their human rights, and development needs. We can draw some clear relationship between climate change and its related human rights impacts, such as:
- · Falling crop yield: Right to Food
- · Coastal disasters: Right to Housing and Property
- · Increasing disease: Right to Health, Right to Life
- · Flooding: Right to Housing, Development, Healthy Environment, etc.
- · Economic disasters: Right to Development, Right to Life
- · Deforestation: Right of Indigenous Peoples, Right to culture, Right to Development
- · Displacement (Climate Refugees): Right to Right to Culture, Right to Food, etc.
- · Rising financial costs: Right to Development (of nations)
Using human rights and development objective targets in the climate change debate helps bring the discussion more urgently to vulnerable groups, and particularly turn attention toward the Adaptation agenda for Climate Change. Climate change human rights impacts are not something that will occur, but rather they are already occurring, and severe human victims of climate change already exist, making the predicament of human populations of climate change of the uttermost importance to treat today.
The WBG, especially IBRD and IDA, can play an especially important role in developing further attention to adaptation needs, identifying victims, climate vulnerable groups, developing climate impact assessment tools for vulnerable communities and States, developing emergency response systems (to floods, draughts, hurricanes, etc.), drawing attention to climate vulnerable groups and the rising risks to certain groups from an ever-changing climate. This responsibility also entails encouraging and engaging industrialized countries, UN agencies and developing country States to further prioritize the climate adaptation agenda. This strategy should be constructed taking on a human rights based approach to development and climate change impacts.
To download the full document press here.
More Information
Jorge Daniel Taillant
jdtaillant@cedha.org.ar
Tel. +54 9 11 6729 5466
World Bank consultation home page : www. worldbank .org/ climate consult
