Climate change and vulnerability : towards an inclusive and rights-based global strategy to facilitate climate change adaption

Abstract

Scientific studies alarm that human-induced climate change will increasingly impact the lives and human rights of millions of vulnerable people in developing countries. The governments of these countries lack resources to ensure that the lives and rights of those people are sufficiently protected against these impacts. Exploring the limits of states’ responsibility for human rights protection, the thesis develops an argument for international cooperation, enhanced accountability and public-private partnerships to mitigate the risks of climate change on human rights. Thereby, it is evident that, although public-private partnerships are crucial to ensure access to stateof- the-art technology and financial resources, the task of protecting, respecting and fulfilling human rights remains ultimately a task of states. This task implies clarifying the precise impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups on their territory and mainstreaming human rights in overall policies, including in private-public agreements and international cooperation. The principled argument of the thesis is that industrialised states and major industrial companies have, given their responsibility for climate change, a particular responsibility to assist developing countries in fulfilling this task. Anticipating on the post-Kyoto framework that is still to be developed, the thesis identifies a need for further research on possible strategies to increase the financial contribution of main emitters of greenhouse gases to rightsbased adaptation strategies in developing countries.