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Human Rights in the Paris Agreement: Too Little, Too Late?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2017

Sam Adelman
Sam Adelman*
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Warwick (United Kingdom (UK)). Email: s.adelman@warwick.ac.uk.
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Abstract

This article examines the impact of the Paris Agreement on the human rights of communities who are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic warming because of their geographical location, their spiritual and cultural connections with land and the wider environment, and their histories of colonialism, dispossession and other forms of exploitation. It focuses on two groups: forest dwellers, and inhabitants of small island developing states who are in danger of inundation as a result of rising sea levels. The Paris Agreement on climate change includes stand-alone articles on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), and loss and damage. The main argument in this article is that the inclusion of human rights in the Preamble to the Paris Agreement is a step forward, but is incommensurate with the scale and urgency of climate change.

Keywords

Paris AgreementHuman rightsClimate justiceIndigenous peoplesLoss and damageREDD+
Type
Symposium: Rights-Based Approaches to Climate Change
Information
Transnational Environmental Law , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 17 - 36
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

†

This contribution is part of a collection of articles growing out of the conference ‘A Rights-Based Approach to Climate Change’, held at QUT Law School, Brisbane (Australia), on 18–19 Feb. 2016.

References

1 Paris (France), 12 Dec. 2015, in force 4 Nov. 2016, available at: http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php.

2 See n. 44 below.

3 New York (US), 9 May 1992, in force 21 Mar. 1994, available at: http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf.

4 They relied on the Structured Expert Dialogue on the 2013–15 review of the long-term global temperature goal, which argued that the global consensus of limiting the increase in average global temperatures to 2°C was inadequate and would threaten the sustainability of both SIDS and low-lying coastal states such as Bangladesh and Vietnam: UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘Report on the Structured Expert Dialogue on the 2013–2015 Review’, available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/sb/eng/inf01.pdf.

5 Adelman, S., ‘Rethinking Human Rights: The Impact of Climate Change on the Dominant Discourse’, in S. Humphreys (ed.), Human Rights and Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 159–179 Google Scholar; Adelman, S., ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’, in G. Digiacomo (ed.), Human Rights: Current Issues and Controversies (University of Toronto Press, 2016), pp. 411–435 Google Scholar.

6 See Gerrard, M.B. & Wannier, G.E. (eds), Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate (Cambridge University Press, 2013)Google Scholar.

7 Ide, T. et al., ‘The Climate-Conflict Nexus: Pathways, Regional Links, and Case Studies’, in H.G. Brauch et al. (eds), Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace (Springer, 2016), pp. 285–304 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 Emphasis added. See Adelman, S., ‘Cosmopolitan Sovereignty’, in C. Bailliet & K. Franko Aas (eds), Cosmopolitan Justice and its Discontents (Routledge, 2011), pp. 11–28 Google Scholar.

9 A. GrearA., Grear, ‘Human Rights, Property and the Search for “Worlds Other”’ (2012) 3(2) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, pp. 173–195 Google Scholar, at 176.

10 Paris (France), 10 Dec. 1948, UN General Assembly Res. 217A (III), UN Doc. A/810, 71, available at: http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights.

11 Baxi, U., The Future of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2006)Google Scholar; Adelman (2016), n. 5 above.

12 Grear, A., ‘Towards “Climate Justice”? A Critical Reflection on Legal Subjectivity and Climate Injustice: Warning Signals, Patterned Hierarchies, Directions for Future Law and Policy’ (2014) 5 Special Edition Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, pp. 103–133 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 105 (emphasis in original). See Lyster, R., Climate Justice and Disaster Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016)Google Scholar, who uses Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach in relation to climate justice.

13 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Science 2013: The Physical Science Basis (Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 14 Google Scholar. See also Adelman (2016), n. 5 above, and Quirico, O. & Boumghar, M. (eds), Climate Change and Human Rights: An International and Comparative Law Perspective (Routledge, 2016)Google Scholar.

14 Unless otherwise stated, the facts in this paragraph are derived from Parry, M.L. et al., Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2007)Google Scholar.

15 Field, C.B. et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press, 2014)Google Scholar, Technical Summary, pp. 35–94.

16 Krakoff, S., ‘Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change’, in D.A. Faure & M. Peeters (eds), Climate Change Law, Vol. 1 (Edward Elgar, 2016), pp. 627–636 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 628.

17 Abate, R.S. & Kronk, E.A., ‘Commonality among Unique Indigenous Communities: An Introduction to Climate Change and Its Impacts on Indigenous Peoples’, in R.S. Abate & E.A. Kronk (eds), Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Search for Legal Remedies (Edward Elgar, 2013), pp. 3–18 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nkem, J.N. et al., ‘Profiling Climate Change Vulnerability of Forest Indigenous Communities in the Congo Basin’ (2013) 18(5) Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, pp. 513–533 Google Scholar; Bentley, S. & Bourke, M., ‘Facing Reality: Indigenous Communities and Climate Change’ (2014) 42(3) Interaction, pp. 22–27 Google Scholar.

18 Savaresi, A., ‘REDD+ and Human Rights: Addressing Synergies Between International Regimes’ (2013) 18(3) Ecology and Society, p. 5, available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05549-180305 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Whyte, K.P., ‘Indigenous Women, Climate Change Impacts, and Collective Action’ (2014) 29(3) Hypatia, pp. 599–616 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 609.

20 Techera, E.J., ‘Legal Pluralism, Indigenous People and Small Island Developing States: Achieving Good Environmental Governance in the South Pacific’ (2010) 61(2) Journal of Legal Pluralism, pp. 171–204 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 172 (noting that a majority of SIDS inhabitants continue to live at least partially traditional lifestyles).

21 Parry et al., n. 14 above, p. 689; Field, et al., n. 15 above, Summary for Policymakers, p. 15 Google Scholar. SIDS are rated as highly vulnerable in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index: Country Rankings (2015), ND-GAIN, available at: http://index.gain.org/ranking/vulnerability.

22 Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessments and New Research. Vol. 2: Country Reports (National Library of Australia, 2011), p. 2.

23 Barnett, J. & Campbell, J., Climate Change and Small Island States: Power, Knowledge, and the South Pacific (Routledge, 2010), p. 12 Google Scholar.

24 Some writers are considering whether SIDS will be able to exercise de-territorialized sovereignty through governments-in-exile after relocating to states willing to accept them: Kittel, J., ‘Global Disappearing Act: How Island States Can Maintain Statehood in the Face of Disappearing Territory’ (2014) 2014(4) Michigan State Law Review, pp. 1207–1250 Google Scholar; Yamamoto, L. & Esteban, M., Atoll Island States and International Law: Climate Change Displacement and Sovereignty (Springer, 2014)Google Scholar.

25 UN General Assembly, Resolution adopted 13 Sept. 2007, UN Doc. A/RES/61/295, 2 Oct. 2007, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/471355a82.html.

26 Ibid.

27 Krakoff, n. 16 above, p. 633. These provisions are in Arts 3, 8, 10 and 26 UNDRIP, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly and is therefore not legally binding.

28 Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada, Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Seeking Relief from Violations Resulting from Global Warming Caused by Acts and Omissions of the United States, 7 Dec. 2005, available at: http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/uploads/3/0/5/4/30542564/finalpetitionicc.pdf. The Commission had previously recognized the link between the right to life and environmental degradation in a case brought by the Yanomami community of the Amazon against the Brazilian government: Case of Yanomami Indians, Judgment, 1985, Case 7615 (Brazil), Inter-AmCtHR, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.66 doc. 10 rev. 1, available at: http://www.cidh.org/annualrep/84.85eng/brazil7615.htm.

29 ‘What the Paris Climate Agreement Means for Indigenous Rights and Hydroelectric Dams’, EcoWatch, 14 Dec. 2015, available at: http://ecowatch.com/2015/12/14/indigenous-rights-cop21.

30 UNFCCC, Preamble and Art. 8.

31 UNFCCC Secretariat, Decision 1/CP.16, ‘The Cancún Agreements: Outcome of the Work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention’, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2010/7/Add.1, 15 Mar. 2011, available at: https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/07a01.pdf. The Agreements note UN Human Rights Council Resolution 10/4 and emphasize that ‘[p]arties should, in all climate change related actions, fully respect human rights’: ibid., p. 4, para. I.8.

32 UN Human Rights Council, Resolution 7/23, ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’, 28 Mar. 2008. See Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Relationship between Climate Change and Human Rights, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/61, 15 Jan. 2009, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/498811532.html.

33 OCHCR, ibid., para. 40.

34 Ibid., para. 51.

35 UN Human Rights Council, Draft Report of the Human Rights Council on its Tenth Session, UN Doc. A/HRC/10/L.11, 12 May 2009, pp. 13 and 15, available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.L.11.pdf (emphases added).

36 See Knox, J.H., ‘Linking Human Rights and Climate Change at the United Nations’ (2009) 33(2) Harvard Environmental Law Review, pp. 477–498 Google Scholar; Bell, D., ‘Does Anthropogenic Climate Change Violate Human Rights?’ (2011) 14(2) Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, pp. 99–124 Google Scholar.

37 Human Rights Council Resolution 18/22, ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’, UN Doc. A/HRC/ RES/18/22, 17 Oct. 2011, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/A.HRC.RES.18.22.pdf; Human Rights Council Resolution 26/27, ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’, UN Doc. A/HRC/26/L/33/Rev.1, 23 June 2014, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G14/061/94/PDF/G1406194.pdf?OpenElement; Human Rights Council Resolution 29/15, ‘Human Rights and Climate Change’, UN Doc. A/HRC/29/L.21, 30 June 2015, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/G15/137/48/PDF/G1513748.pdf?OpenElement.

38 Note the use of ‘should’ rather than ‘shall’, indicating the relatively low priority accorded to human rights. The preamble to a treaty does not create rights or obligations by itself, but may contribute to the emergence of a customary norm: see International Law Commission, ‘Second Report on Identification of Customary International Law by Michael Wood, Special Rapporteur’, Doc. A/CN 4.672 (2014), para. 76(f).

39 Paris Agreement, n. 1 above, Preamble.

40 See Thompson, A., ‘Anthropocentrism: Humanity as Peril and Promise’, in S.M. Gardiner & A. Thompson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Environmental Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2017)Google Scholar.

41 It is not apparent why climate justice is not important to all countries or why some states might have objected to a universal formulation. Bolivia and Ecuador objected to this formulation: International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), ‘Summary of the Paris Climate Change Conference: 29 November–13 December 2015’ (2015) 12(663) Earth Negotiations Bulletin, pp. 1–47, at 12; Gudynas, E., ‘Debates on Development and Its Alternatives in Latin America: A Brief Heterodox Guide’, in Beyond Development: Alternative Visions from Latin America (Transnational Institute/Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, 2013), pp. 15–39 Google Scholar; Prádanos, L.I. & Figueroa Helland, L.E., ‘How to Listen to Pachamama’s Testimonio: Lessons from Indigenous Voices’ (2015) 39(2) Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature Google Scholar, Article 9, available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1841. Para. 136 of the Paris Decision (UNFCCC Secretariat, Decision 1/CP.21, ‘Adoption of the Paris Agreement’, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, 29 Jan. 2016, available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/10a01.pdf) establishes a knowledge exchange platform on traditional knowledge and Art. 7 (on adaptation) Paris Agreement (n. 1 above) refers to ecosystems, livelihoods and traditional knowledge.

42 Adelman, S., ‘Epistemologies of Mastery’, in A. Grear & L. Kotzé (eds), Research Handbook on Human Rights and the Environment (Edward Elgar, 2015), pp. 9–27 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

43 Gudynas, E., ‘Buen Vivir: Today’s Tomorrow’ (2011) 54(4) Development, pp. 441–447 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Villalba, U., ‘Buen Vivir vs Development: A Paradigm Shift in the Andes?’ (2013) 34(8) Third World Quarterly, pp. 1427–1442 Google Scholar.

44 The Ecuadorian Constitution guarantees the rights of buen vivir (Arts 12–34) and grants rights to nature (Arts 71–74): Constitución Política de la República del Ecuador, 20 Oct. 2008. In Bolivia, buen vivir informs the 2009 Constitution, which does not grant rights to nature. However, Pachamama is protected under the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth (Law 071 of the Plurinational State) passed by the Plurinational Legislative Assembly on 21 Dec. 2010.

45 People’s Agreement of Cochabamba, 24 Apr. 2010, adopted at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, available at: https://pwccc.wordpress.com/support.

46 Cassotta, S., ‘The Paris Agreement in Logic of Multi-Regulatory Governance: A Step Forward to a New Concept of “Global Progressive Adaptive-Mitigation”?’ (2016) 25(6) European Energy and Environmental Law Review, pp. 196–212 Google Scholar, at 196. See also Falkner, R. ‘The Paris Agreement and the New Logic of International Climate Politics’ (2016) 92(5) International Affairs, pp. 1107–1125 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

47 Savaresi, A., ‘The Paris Agreement: A New Beginning?’ (2016) 34(1) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, pp. 16–26 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 19–20. Oberthür, S. & Bodle, R., ‘Legal Form and Nature of the Paris Outcome’ (2016) 6(1–2) Climate Law, pp. 40–57 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 40 (arguing that the Agreement ‘constitutes an international treaty whose prescriptive and precise legal obligations are primarily procedural and focused on “nationally determined contributions” (on mitigation) and the core transparency framework. Many other less precise and prescriptive obligations and provisions, including a number of rather programmatic statements, are best understood as establishing a political narrative that aims to guide the implementation and future evolution of the Agreement’). The form and enforceability of the Paris Agreement were dictated in part by the fact that there was little likelihood that a more conventional treaty would be ratified by a Republican-dominated US Congress.

48 Bodansky, D., ‘The Legal Character of the Paris Agreement: A Primer’ (2016) 25(2) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law, pp. 142–150 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

49 S. Holland & V. Volcovici, ‘Trump Clears Way for Controversial Oil Pipelines’, Reuters, 24 Jan. 2017, available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-pipeline-idUSKBN15820N.

50 ‘The Fight against Climate Change: Four Cities Leading the Way in the Trump Era’, The Guardian, 12 Jun. 2017, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/12/climate-change-trump-new-york-city-san-francisco-houston-miami.

51 UN OHCHR, Joint Statement by UN Special Procedures on the Occasion of World Environment Day (5 June 2015) on Climate Change and Human Rights, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16049&LangID=E (emphasis added).

52 ‘Understanding Human Rights and Climate Change’, Submission of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/COP21.pdf.

53 Initiated by Costa Rica, this is a non-binding, voluntary pledge that stresses the importance of addressing the human rights implications of climate change and that human rights should inform climate responses, available at: http://www.forestpeoples.org/sites/fpp/files/news/2015/02/Annex_Geneva%20Pledge.pdf.

54 Available at: http://gnhre.org/gnhre-draft-declaration. The Declaration has subsequently been finalized and is available at: http://gnhre.org/declaration-human-rights-climate-change. See Davies, K. et al., ‘“The Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change”: Towards a New Legal Tool for Policy Change’ (2017) 8(2) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, pp. 217–253 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 GNRHE Draft Declaration, ibid., Principles 1–5.

56 Draft Agreement and Draft Decision on Workstreams 1 and 2 of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Work of the ADP Contact Group, edited version of 6 Nov. 2015, re-issued 10 Nov. 2015, available at: https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/adp2/eng/11infnot.pdf. The brackets in provisional Art. 2 indicated that the text was subject to further negotiation. Provisional Art. 2 read: ‘[This Agreement shall be implemented on the basis of equity and science, in [full] accordance with the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities[, in the light of national circumstances] [the principles and provisions of the Convention], while ensuring the integrity and resilience of natural ecosystems, [the integrity of Mother Earth, the protection of health, a just transition of the workforce and creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities] and the respect, protection, promotion and fulfillment of human rights for all, including indigenous peoples, including the right to health and sustainable development, [including the right of people under occupation] and to ensure gender equality and the full and equal participation of women, [and intergenerational equity].]’

57 P. Tso, ‘How a Disagreement over Human Rights Language Almost Derailed the Climate Change Treaty’, Upworthy, 17 Dec. 2015, available at: http://www.upworthy.com/how-a-disagreement-over-human-rights-language-almost-derailed-the-climate-change-treaty.

58 Mayer, B., ‘Human Rights in the Paris Agreement’ (2016) 6(1–2) Climate Law, pp. 109–117 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 117.

59 K. Warner et al., ‘Evidence from the Frontlines of Climate Change: Loss and Damage to Communities Despite Coping and Adaptation Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative – Policy Report’, Report No. 9, Nov. 2012, UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), available at: http://loss-and-damage.net/download/6815.pdf.

60 See McNamara, K.E. et al., ‘The Complex Decision-Making of Climate-Induced Relocation: Adaptation and Loss and Damage’ (2016) Climate Policy, available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2016.1248886 Google Scholar.

61 James, R. et al., ‘Characterizing Loss and Damage from Climate Change’ (2014) 4(11) Nature Climate Change, pp. 938–939 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Burns, W., ‘Loss and Damage and the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’ (2016) 22(2) ILSA Journal of Comparative & International Law, pp. 415–433 Google Scholar; Roberts, E. & Pelling, M., ‘Climate Change-related Loss and Damage: Translating the Global Policy Agenda for National Policy Processes’ (2016) Climate and Development, pp. 1–14 Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis Online, available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17565529.2016.1184608.

62 UNFCCC Secretariat, Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts, available at: http://unfccc.int/adaptation/workstreams/loss_and_damage/items/8134.php.

63 S. Huq & R. De Souza, ‘Not Fully Lost and Damaged: How Loss and Damage Fared in the Paris Agreement’, Wilson Center, 22 Dec. 2015, available at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/not-fully-lost-and-damaged-how-loss-and-damage-fared-the-paris-agreement#sthash.6Fwm9e8R.dpuf.

64 Ibid.

65 Ibid. For a SIDS perspective on the negotiations, see Fry, I., ‘The Paris Agreement: An Insider’s Perspective – The Role of Small Island Developing States’ (2106) 46(2) Environmental Policy and Law, pp. 105–108 Google Scholar.

66 Decision 1/CP.21, n. 41 above, paras 49–51. Displacement was regarded as a key issue to be negotiated in Paris, with the G77 calling for the inclusion of a ‘climate change displacement coordination facility’ that could provide emergency relief, assist in providing organized migration and planned relocation, and pay compensation to climate displaced persons: UNFCCC Secretariat, Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Working Document, Second Session, Part Ten, 31 Aug.–4 Sept. 2015, p. 5, available at: https://unfccc.int/files/bodies/application/pdf/adp2-10_4sep2015t0145_wd.pdf; and Draft Text on COP 21 Agenda Item 4(b) Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (Decision 1/CP.17) on the Adoption of a Protocol, Another Legal Instrument, or an Agreed Outcome with Legal Force under the Convention Applicable to All Parties, Version 2 of 10 Dec. 2015 at 21:00, p. 21, available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/da02.pdf. The proposal was rejected after strong opposition, notably from Australia: O. Milman, ‘UN Drops Plan to Help Move Climate-Change Affected People’, The Guardian, 7 Oct. 2015, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/07/un-drops-plan-to-create-group-to-relocate-climate-change-affected-people. See also E. Calliari, ‘Special COP21: What Role for Climate Migrants in the Paris Agreement?’, Climate Observer, 9 Dec. 2015, available at: http://climateobserver.org/special-cop21-what-role-for-climate-migrants-in-the-paris-agreement.

67 Decision 1/CP.21, n. 41 above, para. 52. The US and the EU were determined to pre-empt the possibility of claims of liability and compensation of the kind suggested by the Urgenda and Klimaatzaak cases: Stichting Urgenda v. Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2015:7145, Rechtbank Den Haag, C/09/456689/HA ZA 13-1396; VZW Klimaatzaak v. Kingdom of Belgium and Others, available at: http://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/vzw-klimaatzaak-v-kingdom-of-belgium-et-al.

68 Emphasis added. UNFCCC Secretariat, Draft Decision -/CP.21, ‘Draft Paris Agreement’, COP 21 Agenda Item 4(b), 10 Dec. 2015. See Adelman, S., ‘Climate Justice, Loss and Damage and Compensation for Small Island Developing States’ (2016) 7(1) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, pp. 32–53 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Lyster, R., ‘A Fossil Fuel-Funded Climate Disaster Response Fund under the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts’ (2015) 4(1) Transnational Environmental Law, pp. 125–151 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

69 Burkett, M., ‘Reading between the Red Lines: Loss and Damage and the Paris Outcome’ (2016) 6(1–2) Climate Law, pp. 118–129 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 127. See also Adelman, n. 68 above.

70 Adelman, n. 68 above. See also Lyster, n. 68 above; and Mace, M.J. & Verheyen, R., ‘Loss, Damage and Responsibility after COP21: All Options Open for the Paris Agreement’ (2016) 25(2) Review of European Comparative and International Environmental Law, pp. 197–214 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 197.

71 Marrakech Action Proclamation for Our Climate and Sustainable Development, available at: http://cop22.ma/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/marrakech_action_proclamation.pdf. State parties asked the WIM to establish a ‘strategic workstream’ to determine the level of financing required: UNFCCC Secretariat, Decision 3/CP.22, ‘Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2016/10/Add.1, 31 Jan. 2017, available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2016/cop22/eng/10a01.pdf. Estimates vary, but $50 billion is considered to be close to the minimum required. The strategic workstream should identify how funds should be raised, including from fossil fuel and aviation companies. The WIM clearly needs more resources to address a wide range of issues, which include displacement and resettlement; loss and damage from slow-onset events; non-economic losses such as identity, culture and language; the implementation of insurance systems to deal with risk; and the provision of financial, technological and capacity-building support. In addition, developing countries demanded a review to establish whether the WIM is capable of fulfilling its mandate, but this was deferred until 2019: J. Richards, ‘Marrakech: Modest Progress on Loss and Damage, but More on the Horizon’, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 25 Nov. 2016, available at: https://www.boell.de/en/2016/11/25/marrakech-modest-progress-loss-and-damage-more-horizon.

72 The ‘+’ refers to conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks – effectively a carbon market for trees (see, e.g., http://unfccc.int/land_use_and_climate_change/redd/items/7377.php). For a brief history of REDD+ see Godden, L. & Tehan, M., ‘REDD+: Climate Justice and Indigenous and Local Community Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption’ (2016) 34(1) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, pp. 95–108 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Adelman, S., ‘Tropical Forests and Climate Change: A Critique of Green Governmentality’ (2015) 11(2) International Journal of Law in Context, pp. 195–212 Google Scholar. See also Adelman, S., ‘Tropical Forests, Climate Change and Neoliberal Environmental Governmentality’, in C. Tan & J. Faundez (eds), Natural Resources and Sustainable Development: International Economic Law Perspectives (Edward Elgar, 2017), pp. 186–207 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

73 Rights and Resources Initiative, ‘Who Owns the World’s Land? A Global Baseline of Formally Recognized Indigenous and Community Land Rights’, Sept. 2015, available at: http://www.rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/GlobalBaseline_web.pdf. The World Bank estimates that forests contribute directly to the livelihoods of 90% of the 1.2 billion people living in abject poverty: The World Bank, Sustaining Forests: A Development Strategy (IBDR/The World Bank, 2004), p. 1, available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/424531468781760578/Sustaining-forests-a-development-strategy.

74 Godden & Tehan, n. 72 above.

75 UNFCCC Secretariat, Decision 1/CP.13, ‘Bali Action Plan’, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1, 14 Mar. 2008, para. 1(b)(iii); see also UNFCCC Secretariat, Decision 2/CP.13, ‘Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing Countries: Approaches to Stimulate Action’, UN Doc. FCCC/CP/2007/6/Add.1, 14 Mar. 2008.

76 Cancún Agreements, n. 31 above, paras 68–79 and the Annex. On the safeguards, see A. Savaresi, ‘The Legal Status and Role of Safeguards’ and Jodoin, S., ‘The Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Forest-Dependent Communities in the Complex Legal Framework for REDD+’, both in C. Voigt (ed.), Research Handbook on REDD+ and International Law (Routledge, 2016), pp. 126–156 Google Scholar and pp. 157–85 respectively; Bodin, B., Väänänen, E. & van Asselt, H., ‘The Legal Aspects of REDD+ Implementation: Translating the International Rules into Effective National Frameworks – Putting REDD+ Environmental Safeguards into Practice: Recommendations for Effective and Country-Specific Implementation’ (2015) 9(2) Carbon and Climate Law Review, pp. 168-182, at 168Google Scholar.

77 Cancún Agreements, n. 31 above, Appendix 1, para. 2.

78 Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), UN Development Programme (UNDP) & UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN-REDD Programme Framework Document, 20 June 2008, available at: https://www.unredd.net/documents/foundation-documents-88/4-un-redd-programme-framework-document-20-june-2008-4.html.

79 Margarita Declaration on Climate Change, Margarita Island (Venezuela), 15–18 July 2014, available at: http://www.redd-monitor.org/2014/08/08/the-margarita-declaration-on-climate-change-we-reject-the-implementation-of-false-solutions-to-climate-change-such-as-carbon-markets-and-other-forms-of-privatization-and-commodification-of-life.

80 The ‘Warsaw Framework for REDD-plus’ (available at: http://unfccc.int/land_use_and_climate_change/redd/items/8180.php) is made up of 7 UNFCCC decisions.

81 Fletcher, R. et al., ‘Questioning REDD+ and the Future of Market‐Based Conservation’ (2016) 30(3) Conservation Biology, pp. 673–675 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed; Turnhout, E. et al., ‘Envisioning REDD+ in a Post-Paris Era: Between Evolving Expectations and Current Practice’ (2017) 8(1) WIREs: Climate Change, Wiley Online Library, available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wcc.425/full Google Scholar.

82 Decision 1/CP.21, n. 41 above, para. 55.

83 Emphasis added.

84 Emphasis added.

85 Coalition for Rainforest Nations, available at: http://www.rainforestcoalition.org/AboutTheCoalition.aspx.

86 Warsaw Framework for REDD-Plus, n. 80 above.

87 ‘Colombia, Germany, Norway and the UK Announce Groundbreaking Partnership to Protect Colombia’s Rainforest’, 30 Nov. 2015, available at: https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/departementene/kld/kos/colombia-joint-press-release-cop21-003.pdf.

88 W. Worley, ‘Marrakesh Climate Conference: Campaigners React with “Extreme Disappointment” over Lack of Progress’, The Independent, 19 Nov. 2016, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/marrakech-climate-conference-cop-22-campaigners-extreme-disappointment-a7426426.html.

89 J. Vidal, ‘We Are Destroying Rainforests So Quickly They May Be Gone in 100 Years’, The Guardian, 23 Jan. 2017, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/23/destroying-rainforests-quickly-gone-100-years-deforestation.

90 M. Bergen, ‘Experts: Paris Agreement Falls Short on Indigenous Rights’, humanature, 17 Dec. 2015, available at: http://blog.conservation.org/2015/12/expert-paris-agreement-falls-short-on-indigenous-rights.

91 V. Tauli-Corpuz, ‘Removing Rights for Indigenous Peoples Places Forests, Climate Plan at Risk. Statement from Paris, COP21’, 7 Dec. 2015, available at: http://unsr.vtaulicorpuz.org/site/index.php/en/statements/106-statement-cop21.

92 Lawlor, K. & Huberman, D., ‘Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and Human Rights’, in J. Campese et al. (eds), Rights-Based Approaches: Exploring Issues and Opportunities for Conservation (CIFOR and IUCN, 2009), pp. 269–286 Google Scholar. See also IUCN, ‘Indigenous Peoples and Climate Change/REDD: An Overview of Current Discussions and Main Issues’, Briefing Document, Mar. 2010, p. 9, available at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/Rep-2010-022.pdf; and P.K. Sena, M. Cunningham Kain & B. Xavier, ‘Indigenous People’s Rights and Safeguards in Projects Related to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation: Note by the Secretariat’, UN Economic and Social Council, Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 12th session, Agenda Item 5, UN Doc. E/C.19/2013/7, 5 Feb. 2013.

93 Dehm, J., ‘Indigenous Peoples and REDD+ Safeguards: Rights as Resistance or as Disciplinary Inclusion in the Green Economy?’ (2016) 7(2) Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, pp. 170–217 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

94 Ribot, J. & Larson, A.M., ‘Reducing REDD Risks: Affirmative Policy on an Uneven Playing Field’ (2012) 6(2) International Journal of the Commons, pp. 233–254 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

95 Poudyal, M. et al., ‘Can REDD+ Social Safeguards Reach the “Right” People? Lessons from Madagascar’ (2016) 37 Global Environmental Change, pp. 31–42 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 31.

96 Hall, A., Forests and Climate Change: The Social Dimensions of REDD in Latin America (Edward Elgar, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

97 Human rights attorney and Indigenous Environmental Network counsel Alberto Saldamando, quoted by M. Lukacs, ‘Indigenous Activists Take to Seine River to Protest Axing of Rights from Paris Climate Pact’, The Guardian, 7 Dec. 2015, available at: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2015/dec/07/indigenous-activists-take-to-seine-river-to-protest-axing-of-rights-from-paris-climate-pact.

98 UNFCCC Secretariat, ‘Draft Paris Outcome’, Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, 2nd session, Agenda Item 3 Implementation of All the Elements of Decision 1/CP.17, UN Doc. FCCC/ADP/2015/L.6/Rev.1, 5 Dec. 2015, available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/adp2/eng/l06r01.pdf. Land use was heavily debated during COP-21 but ultimately the word ‘land’ does not appear in the final text, primarily because of concerns about food security among developing countries that might flow from binding mitigation obligations covering agriculture.

99 See the Anchorage Declaration, Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change, Anchorage, AK (US), 24 Apr. 2009, available at: unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/smsn/ngo/168.pdf; and the Margarita Declaration on Climate Change, n. 79 above.

100 Donald Lehr, consultant to the REDD+ Safeguards Working Group, quoted in ‘Inclusion of REDD+ in Paris Climate Agreement Heralded as Major Step Forward on Deforestation’, Mongabay, 14 Dec. 2105, available at: https://news.mongabay.com/2015/12/inclusion-of-redd-in-paris-climate-agreement-heralded-as-major-step-forward-on-deforestation.

101 Dehm, n. 93 above, p. 170.

102 The Cancún Agreements (n. 31 above) also refer to human rights, but are a series of non-binding decisions rather than a convention.

103 R. Lyster, ‘Protecting the Human Rights of Climate Displaced Persons: The Promise and Limits of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’, in Grear & Kotzé, n. 42 above, pp. 423–48. Estimates of the numbers of people forced to migrate vary between 20 million and 200 million. On possible options, see S. Atapattu, Human Rights Approaches to Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities (Routledge, 2016), pp. 155–75.

104 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Issue of Human Rights Obligations Relating to the Enjoyment of a Safe, Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment’, UN Doc. A/HRC/31/52, 1 Feb. 2016, para. 22 (emphasis added).

105 Savaresi, n. 47 above, p. 24.

106 Atapattu, S., ‘Climate Change, Human Rights, and COP 21: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back or Vice Versa?’ (2016) 17(2) Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, pp. 47–55 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 48. The general provisions of the UN Charter on the human rights obligations of states take precedence over the Paris Agreement: Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, CA (US), 26 June 1945, in force 24 Oct. 1945, available at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter. Art. 103 of the Charter states that ‘[i]n the event of a conflict between the obligations of the Members of the United Nations under the present Charter and their obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the present Charter shall prevail’. This is affirmed in Art. 1(3) Paris Agreement.

107 Petition to the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines Requesting for Investigation of the Responsibility of the Carbon Majors for Human Rights Violations or Threats of Violations Resulting from the Impacts of Climate Change, submitted by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement on behalf of numerous other organizations and individuals, available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/PageFiles/735291/Petitioners-and-Annexes/CC-HR-Petition.pdf. The Philippines Human Rights Commission announced its acceptance of the petition on the first day of COP-21.

108 G. Monbiot, ‘Cop-Out’, 15 Dec. 2015, available at: http://www.monbiot.com/2015/12/15/cop-out.