Human Rights and Climate Change
Forthcoming in Tuula Honkonen and Seita Romppanen (eds): International Environmental Law-making and Diplomacy Review 2018 - Human Rights and the Environment (University of Eastern Finland and UNEP 2019)
14 Pages Posted: 22 Feb 2019 Last revised: 3 Jul 2019
Date Written: February 1, 2019
Abstract
The relationship between climate change and human rights law has come under increased scrutiny in the last decade. Since 2008, human rights bodies have recognised that both climate change and climate change response measures may affect the enjoyment of human rights. Parties to the climate regime have followed suit, slowly but surely incorporating human rights language in their decisions. Then, in 2015, the Paris Agreement became the first international environmental treaty to make an explicit reference to states’ human rights obligations. This chapter analyses these developments, looking at progress made, as well as obstacles standing on the way of greater cooperation between the climate change and human rights regimes.
Keywords: Climate Change; Human Rights; Paris Agreement; Litigation
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