Human Rights and Climate Change: Bridging the Divide

 Zoe Loftus-Farren and Cáitrín McKiernan

I.      Abstract[1]

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt populations to their changed climates.  However, these mitigation and adaptation policies may unintentionally create or exacerbate human rights concerns.  At present, there is no coordinated effort, through existing human rights standards and best practices, to address the potential for harm.

This paper reviews current approaches to addressing the social impacts of climate change; highlights unintended consequences of climate change policies; argues that a human rights framework is an essential tool for designing and implementing climate change policies; and suggests that before states implement such policies, they first enumerate their potential for collateral damage.