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The rights of persons with disabilities in the context of climate change - panel discussion. 14th Meeting, 44th Regular Session Human Rights Council

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
July 2020

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The Panel focused on good practices and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of the adverse impact of climate change. Its main objectives were to understand the benefits of disability-inclusive climate action and to identify opportunities for international cooperation in mitigation and adaptation actions which promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

The panellists of the event were:

  • Ms Catalina Devandas Aguilar, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities
  • Ms Amalia A. Decena, President of Handicapables Association of Cagayan, Philippines
  • Mr Sébastien Jodoin, Assistant Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Law and Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and the Environment
  • Ms Deborah Iyute Oyuu, Programme Officer at the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda

Persons with disabilities in a just transition to a low-carbon economy

HASAN, Maria
November 2019

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Implementing a just transition to a low-carbon economy that aims to leave no one behind will require a context-specific and locally determined mix of legal standards, social protection, skills development and attitudinal transformation that create an enabling environment for green jobs to perpetuate and decent work opportunities for persons with disabilities to proliferate. If done right, a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all can contribute to the goals of achieving social justice, decent work, social inclusion and the eradication of poverty. At this unique time that climate action is accelerating and the transition to green economies has started to take form, a just transition - that is inherently disability-inclusive - represents a unique opportunity to shape a future that works for all.

 

Topics discussed include: Persons with disabilities in a world of work confronted by climate change; Understanding the future of the world of work; Existing frameworks to guide action; An inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy; Key recommendations

Persons with disabilities in a just transition to a low-carbon economy

HASAN, Maria
November 2019

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Implementing a just transition to a low-carbon economy that aims to leave no one behind will require a context-specific and locally determined mix of legal standards, social protection, skills development and attitudinal transformation that create an enabling environment for green jobs to perpetuate and decent work opportunities for persons with disabilities to proliferate.

Disability and climate resilience research project

KETT, Maria
COLE, Ellie
August 2018

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This 14-month exploratory research project aimed to increase the understanding of the links between disability and climate resilience, and in turn to support the delivery of policy and programme work that builds the resilience of people with disabilities to climate shocks and stresses. 

 

The research comprises: an extensive literature review to identify the current evidence and gaps; a global online survey to identify current practices being implemented in the field around climate change and climate-related disasters, and the extent to which disability issues are addressed in programming; policy analyses, complemented by key informant interviews with policymakers and practitioners; and focus group discussions with people with disabilities in climate-impacted areas of Bangladesh and Kenya. This report synthesises the results of the desk- and field-based research, and outlines implications of the findings for policy and programming and identifies recommendations for further action. It is hoped that the findings highlighted in this report can be extrapolated to develop more disabilityinclusive practice and will also be applicable for other contextually marginalised people

Disability inclusion in climate change: Impacts and intersections

SAXTON, Marsha
GHENIS, Alex
January 2018

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This article by U.S.-based authors explores key intersectional issues emphasizing their research in the U.S. related to disability and climate change impact, and recommending an educational, research and advocacy agenda for both the Climate Change and the Disability Rights movements

 

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity Special Issue: Climate Change and Intersectionaity Volume 4, Issue 1. 2018. 

New Earth Disability Newsletter - December 2017

Alex Ghenis
December 2017

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New Earth Disability is a groundbreaking project looking at how climate change will affect people with disabilities. NED is now a major initiative at the World Institute on Disability, a leading nonprofit focusing on disability research, education and partnerships.

Disability and Climate Resilience: A Literature Review

SMITH, Fred
SIMARD, Mathieu
TWIGG, John
KETT, Maria
COLE, Ellie
April 2017

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"This literature review covers a comprehensive body of literature targeting data from 2007 onwards in low and middle-income countries. It presents evidence from a literature review that retrieved and screened 1,011 articles and 546 grey literature sources. A total of 107 relevant sources were selected from the published and grey literature in accordance with the study design, of which 53 were included in the final review. The paper explains the literature review methodology, discusses concepts and definitions of resilience and introduces key global frameworks relating to climate change, disaster risk reduction and development"

Making migration accessible: Inclusive relocation for people with disabilities

GHENIS, Alex
February 2016

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Factors associated with complex and specific needs of people with disabilities who become migrants owing to climate change are discussed and rights of disabled migrants as covered by  UNCRPD Article 11: Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies and UNCRPD Article 18: Liberty of Movement and Nationality are highlighted. The challenge of disability-inclusive planning to incorporate migrants with disabilities in a way that maintains health, physical access and necessary support throughout the migration or relocation process and once at their destination is reported. This involves maximizing accessibility of transit and infrastructure (namely temporary camps, long-term housing and public spaces); maintaining personal care and communal support networks; and guaranteeing vital health-care and social services.

Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Policy Brief Series: Issue 6 | Vol. 2 | June 2016

WORLD ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SURVEY - 2016 Climate Change Resilience: an opportunity for reducing inequalities

United Nations Secretariat, Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)
2016

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This survey contributes to the debate on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In addressing the specific challenge of building resilience to climate change, the Survey focuses on population groups and communities that are disproportionately affected by climate hazards, whose frequency and intensity are increasing with climate change. It argues that, in the absence of a continuum of policies designed to reduce the exposure and vulnerability of people to climate change, poverty and inequalities will only worsen. To the extent that the differential impact of climate hazards on people and communities is determined largely by the prevalence of multiple inequalities in respect of the access to resources and opportunities, policies aimed at building climate resilience provide an opportunity to address the structural determinants of poverty and inequality in their multiple dimensions.

Unless we act now : the impact of climate change on children

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)
November 2015

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This UNICEF report explores how climate change and related crises impact children. The report begins by outlining major climate related risks, how they may impact children, and how repetitive crises can have an increased impact on children and families. Secondly, the report shows how different mitigating actions might impact children and families. Finally the report presents a number of broad policy recommendations to reduce global warming, decrease children’s exposure and increase their resilience to climate change and environmental risks

Transforming our world : the 2030 agenda for sustainable development

UNITED NATIONS (UN)
October 2015

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This document presents the finalised text for adoption of the UN’s 2015-2030 Sustainable Development agenda, a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.  The Agenda seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom and recognises that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. It calls for countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, to implement this plan and  pledges that no one will be left behind. It seeks to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve, and it is anticipated that the Goals and targets will stimulate action over the next fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet

 

The document provides an introduction and vision, shared principles and commitments, the world today and the new agenda, the means of implementation, the follow up and review, and a call for action to change our world. It then specifically outlines the new agenda of 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the associated 169 developmental targets, the means of implementation and global partnership, and the expected follow-up and review over the next 15 years at national, regional and global levels

 

The 17 SDGs include: 

  • Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
  • Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
  • Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
  • Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
  • Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
  • Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
  • Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
  • Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
  • Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
  • Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
  • Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  • Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
  • Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
  • Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
  • Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
  • Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

Projecting progress : reaching the SDGs by 2030

NICOLAI, Susan
et al
September 2015

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The report presents an analysis that begins to systematically quantify the scale of the challenge that the world has set itself with the Sustainable Development Goals for the first time.  The authors selected one target per goal – a total of 17 – and projected forward to 2030, grading them from A-F according to how near they will be to completion in 2030. This was based on available projections of current trends sourced from leading institutions, alongside our own where there were gaps. The resulting scorecard shows that unless significant changes are made, none of the SDGs will be met

Climate change’s role in disaster risk reduction’s future : beyond vulnerability and resilience

KELMAN, Ilan
GAILLARD, J C
MERCER, Jessica
March 2015

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A seminal policy year for development and sustainability occurs in 2015 due to three parallel processes that seek long-term agreements for climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals, and disaster risk reduction. Little reason exists to separate them, since all three examine and aim to deal with many similar processes, including vulnerability and resilience. This article uses vulnerability and resilience to explore the intersections and overlaps amongst climate change, disaster risk reduction, and sustainability. Critiquing concepts such as “return to normal” and “double exposure” demonstrate how separating climate change from wider contexts is counterproductive. Climate change is one contributor to disaster risk and one creeping environmental change amongst many, and not necessarily the most prominent or fundamental contributor. Yet climate change has become politically important, yielding an opportunity to highlight and tackle the deep-rooted vulnerability processes that cause “multiple exposure” to multiple threats. To enhance resilience processes that deal with the challenges, a prudent place for climate change would be as a subset within disaster risk reduction. Climate change adaptation therefore becomes one of many processes within disaster risk reduction. In turn, disaster risk reduction should sit within development and sustainability to avoid isolation from topics wider than disaster risk. Integration of the topics in this way moves beyond expressions of vulnerability and resilience towards a vision of disaster risk reduction’s future that ends tribalism and separation in order to work together to achieve common goals for humanity.

Finance for reducing disaster risk : 10 things to know

WATSON, Cherlene
et al
March 2015

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This report focuses on the basics of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) finance and the opportunities that the Post-2015 development finance landscape can offer. The resource analyses DRR spending trends and identifies a number of potential funding sources, both public and private. It concludes with a number of recommendations for future financing, particularly surrounding future international agreements on DRR

Human Rights

www.macao-tz.org
December 2014

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Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organization (MACAO) is a non-profit organization reaching out to neglected Indigenous people in Ngorongoro District, Arusha Region of Northern Tanzania.  Macao founded in 2003, Macao is a humanitarian organization that provides assistance to approximately 200,000 Indigenous Maasai community in Ngorongoro district for addressing needs of water and sanitation, food security, health Care Research, Education, Research environment, Maasai Traditional Research, Human Rights and sustainable economic development by strengthening their livelihoods.  In addition to responding to major relief situations, MACAO focuses on long-term community development through over 4 Area Development Project. We welcome the donors and volunteers to join us in this programs, we are wolking in ruro villages.

How to include and empower the vulnerable in disaster risk reduction

OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (ODI)
November 2014

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 “This event is one of a new event series Rethinking International Policy for Reducing Disaster Risk hosted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). The series examines some of the more thorny issues involved in renegotiating the Hyogo Framework for Action, including public private partnerships, use of risk assessments, fragile states and conflict and effective governance for DRR, amongst others”

ODI seminar “How to include and empower the vulnerable in disaster risk reduction”

London, UK

25 November 2014

Climate change and persons with disabilities

LOCKWOOD, Elizabeth
September 2014

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This blog follows the UN Climate Summit on Tuesday, 23 September 2014 in New York City. Due to this high-level event, climate change has been a pervasive topic at the UN and in NYC and this theme will continue to be important as the post-2015 development agenda progresses. With this increased emphasis on climate change – and related disaster risk reduction (DRR) – in the post-2015 process, this blog outlines why it is crucial that persons with disabilities are included in these conversations, debates and initiatives, and presents a number of recommendations

Open working group proposal for sustainable development goals

UNITED NATIONS (UN)
2014

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This UN report sets out the proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals and accompanying targets, developed for consideration and appropriate action by the General Assembly at its 68th session. These goals were developed by the Open Working on Sustainable Development Goals as a result of the mandate set out in the Rio+20 outcome document

Note: Open Working Group of the General Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals is issued as document A/68/970

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