A Human Rights-Based Approach to Climate Change? Insights from the Regulation of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Abstract

A recent study of the United Nations (UN) seeks to establish a framework of analysis for the impact of climate change on human rights and their reciprocal relationships. Works on this issue only started in 2007 and will continue. Climate change is likely to affect several human rights and, although the scope of such an impact has not been fully explored yet, prima facie it might be so important as to radically change the human rights scenario. Basically, the relationship between climate change and human rights raises three different legal issues. A first one concerns the necessity of assessing whether or not human rights compel States to take adaptation and mitigation measures according to the responsibility to protect fundamental rights. A second question regards the state obligation to respect human rights in adopting measures against climate change. A third problem relates to the possibility of adopting measures to make States responsible for human rights violations owing to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.