This chapter examines the link between human rights and climate change. Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change have a clear and lasting effect on various rights protected under international human rights law. Several legal instruments have been used to address climate change’s negative effects on human rights. The Human Rights Council has adopted a number of resolutions and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has produced several reports on the link. Moreover, human rights are a common ground for the climate litigation that has come before several regional judicial bodies, with some success. The author also notes that the Human Rights Council has focused several of its resolutions on combatting negative effects of climate change on vulnerable populations, who face disproportionate human rights impacts. Due to the inextricable link between human rights and climate change, a rights-based approach to climate change is needed to limit negative effects on human rights and ensure a sustainable future.
Bibliographic Citation
Sumudu Atapattu, Linking International Human Rights Law and Climate Change, in Routledge Handbook of Climate Law and Governance (2024).
Rights
Due to copyright restrictions, this item is not available for full-text download outside the UW Law School.
