Pardee Fellow Speaks on Human Rights and Climate Change

Dr. Miquel Munoz, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University, was the closing speaker at the International Seminar on Human Rights and Climate Change, organized by the Association of UN Friends in SPAIN (ANUE). This seminar was organized in parallel with the UN Climate Talks in Barcelona, 2-6 November, the last of such meetings before the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009.

During his presentation, Dr. Munoz compared the relevant rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Dr. Munoz identified human rights aspects of the three fundamental aspects of climate change negotiations: (1) compensation for historical emissions and damages; (2) distribution of the burden of action to combat climate change; and (3) allocation of global commons in the future, in particular distribution of GHG emissions rights.

Dr. Munoz outlined five specific challenges for the human rights community:

1. There is a need to ensure that individual and community human rights are not eroded by policies designed to curb climate change – or any other public good.

2. Coordinated international action on climate change is likely to result in many international mechanisms and bodies. These bodies and mechanisms should be designed in accordance with human rights, and ensure proper participation and legitimacy of its governing bodies.

3. The increasing numbers of people displaced (directly or indirectly) due to climate change (Climate Displaced People or CDP) will require a re-definition of the refugee concept. Work is needed to insure that that CDP have their human rights recognized when relocated.

4. In relation with the previous point, the disappearance or inviability of some States due to climate change, particularly low-lying island states, will require a specific measures to ensure the human rights of their citizens, particularly the human right to nationality and mobility.

5. With the expected increase in number and frequency of climate-related disasters and emergencies, there is a need to strengthen mechanism to ensure that human rights are ALSO respected during emergencies.

In his conclusions, Dr. Munoz remarked that while climate change has many human rights impacts, the solution to climate change cannot solely be based on a human rights approach.