We, the undersigned, note that climate change-related impacts have a range of implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights, and recognize that while these implications affect individuals and communities around the world, the effects of climate change will be felt most acutely by those segments of the population who are already in vulnerable situations owing to factors such as geography, poverty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status and disability.
The first climate talks of 2015 concluded today in Geneva. Countries delivered a negotiation text that will form the basis for discussions at the next session in Bonn in June on the road to a Paris climate treaty later in the year. Environmental groups applauded the launch of the Geneva Pledge, an initiative to better understand the connection between human rights and climate change supported by 15 countries with more countries expected to join.
Fighting against climate change and fighting for sustainable development are two sides of the same coin – one will not prosper without the other. It must be made clear to world leaders shaping the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that without an ambitious climate goal, the post-2015 sustainable development agenda cannot reap success.
In less than one year, the world’s countries are expected to flesh out an agreement to address climate change and advert dangerous global warming. UN negotiators will meet for the first time in 2015 in Geneva with the goal to deliver a final negotiating text to form the basis for such a deal. This first session will also be significant because it will take place in the premises of the UN’s human rights council where UN delegates will have to find a solution to protect the world’s most vulnerable citizens from climate change while insuring their human rights.
The role of future carbon markets will rank high on the agenda in Lima. Against the insufficient climate action pledges that have been made so far, a key issue in Lima will be to establish participation criteria that will only allow those countries with a mitigation target in line with the 2°C target to participate in international carbon markets.
At the occasion of the international human rights day on 10 December 2014, the need to protect human rights in all climate actions will be high up on the agenda in Lima. The clock is ticking for delegates to put in place a robust institutional safeguards system for existing and new carbon markets to protect the people most vulnerable to climate change.
COP20 in Lima to establish the groundwork for a future climate treaty will take place in limbo over tangible commitments on climate action only expected throughout 2015. Yet, discussions on a number of crucial issues will happen in light of this uncertainty. A hot potato will be the level of climate ambition needed for countries that want …
Read more “Carbon Market Watch @COP20”
With the adoption of human rights language in Decision 1/CP. 16 of the UNFCCC COP held in Cancun in 2010, the initial resistance which trailed the conception of climate change as a human rights issue may have been defeated, but critical issues remain unresolved. The upcoming COP20 in Lima will provide a crucial opportunity to address these issues and advance the operationalization of the important Cancun decision.
It is critical that civil society is actively involved in discussions about the shape of new market mechanisms. But what lessons can be learned from previous efforts to promote reform such as the CDM Policy Dialogue?
