ABSTRACT. The making of the REDD+ mechanism in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has raised specific concerns on how to reconcile incentives for forest carbon sequestration with the protection of the rights of the numerous communities that rely upon forests for their livelihood, shelter, and survival. Although the nascent REDD+ mechanism provides an opportunity to provide multiple benefits, the design of a framework to secure such benefits and avoid perverse outcomes has proven complex. I provide an overview of progress toward the establishment of such framework, arguing that concerns over the social impact of REDD+ activities may be addressed by resorting to clearer and stronger links with human rights instruments.
At the Third IUCN World Conservation Congress, which took place in 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand, the IUCN membership adopted IUCN Resolution 3.015 "Conserving Nature and Reducing Poverty by Linking Human Rights and the Environment". This resolution affirmed that "… social equity cannot be achieved without the promotion, protection and guarantee of all human rights…" It therefore requested the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law "... to provide additional legal research, analysis and resources, and build the capacity of members in the enforcement of environmental laws, in close collaboration with IUCN members" and "... to provide a progress report to future World Conservation Congresses ... with an emphasis on human-rights tools that may be used by IUCN and its members in pursuit of the Mission". As a response, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre with the support of distinct members of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law prepared this publication to inform all actors-governments, the private sector, local communities, nongovernmental organizations-about the rights-based approach (RBA) and its potential contribution to guiding activities that, if unrestrained, may have a detrimental impact on the environment and on people's livelihoods. The term "rights-based approach" has been used in various contexts and has been defined in different ways. This publication uses the approach specifically to explore the linkages between conservation and respect for people's rights, in particular internationally and nationally guaranteed human rights. Such an RBA to conservation parallels the international consensus on taking an RBA to development, which was forged in the context of the 1996 World Summit for Social Development and elaborated in the Millennium Summit and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The overall aim of an RBA to conservation is to promote the realization of conservation with justice. It recognizes that activities and projects related to conservation can have a positive or negative impact on human rights, while the exercise of certain human rights can reinforce and act in synergy with conservation goals. Conservation with Justice: A Rights-based Approach discusses how an RBA might be implemented in the context of conservation-related activities that potentially have a negative impact on people's rights. It introduces the concept of a step-wise approach to the implementation of an RBA to conservation. This step-wise approach was presented and discussed at the Fourth IUCN World Conservation Congress, which was held 5-14 October 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. Key elements are reflected in the IUCN Resolution 4.056 "Rights-based Approach to Conservation", which was adopted by the IUCN Members' Assembly and which lists the following principles in its Annex: viii "Principles concerning human rights in conservation prepared by the IUCN Environmental Law Centre (ELC): 1. Promote the obligation of all state and non-state actors planning or engaged in policies, projects, programmes or activities with implications for...
The adoption of the Paris Agreement has prompted a flurry of climate change litigation, both to redress the impacts of climate change and to put pressure on state and non-state actors to adopt more ambitious action to tackle climate change. The use of human rights law as a gap-filler to provide remedies where other areas of the law do not is not new, especially in the environmental context. It is therefore not a surprise that human rights arguments are increasingly being made, and human rights remedies increasingly being sought, in climate change litigation. While relatively few cases have been argued on human rights grounds so far, the trend is continuing and accelerating, with some striking results. This article takes stock of human rights arguments made in climate change litigation to date to gauge what they reveal about the evolving relationship between human rights and climate change law—and about possible future developments.
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