ABSTRACT
In addition to being a challenging issue for the fields of science, economics and politics, climate change has in recent years been increasingly acknowledged as a human rights issue due to the wide-ranging and serious consequences it has for individuals and communities. The effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels, increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events and expansion of vector-borne diseases and pests, threaten to affect people’s fundamental human rights, including the rights to health, food, water, housing, self-determination and even life itself. Further, these impacts and the costs of addressing them have the potential to limit governments’ capacity to protect and fulfil a wide range of rights to which their citizens are entitled.
