A/HRC/44/30 caused by extreme weather.22 Climate change is projected to further erode food security and to prolong and create poverty traps, in particular in urban areas and in emerging hotspots of hunger.23 Food shortages and malnutrition tend to affect persons with disabilities and their families to a larger extent than the general population.24 C. Adequate housing 15. Climate change affects the rights of persons with disabilities to adequate housing (see A/HRC/10/61). Sea-level rise and coastal flooding impact people and infrastructure in low-lying coastal zones, small island developing States and other small islands. The consequences include the relocation of peoples and communities, which has already taken place in both the Arctic region and in low-lying island States (see A/HRC/10/61). Settlements in low-lying megadeltas are also at particular risk, as demonstrated by the millions of people and homes that have been affected by flooding during recent years (ibid.). Indigenous persons with disabilities may live in areas that are at particular risk from climate change impacts, such as coastal zones, the Pacific and the Arctic, and are at elevated risk of exposure to emergencies (see E/C.19/2013/6). During emergencies, environmental barriers may prevent persons with disabilities from accessing shelters and safe spaces.25 16. Persons with disabilities often encounter barriers in finding accessible homes and climate change may further undermine the availability of adequate housing. People living in poverty often have less adaptive capacity such as the ability to move to less exposed areas or access quality housing. 26 Many people, including persons with disabilities, have no choice but to move to urban slums and informal settlements and build shelters in hazardous areas (see A/HRC/10/61). An estimated 1 billion people already live in urban slums, on fragile hillsides or flood-prone riverbanks where they are highly vulnerable to extreme climate events (ibid.). In slums, infrastructure and services are lacking, the rates of disease are high and there are challenges related to accessing safe water and sanitation. Such environments pose heightened barriers for persons with disabilities.27 D. Water and sanitation 17. Climate change exacerbates existing pressure on water resources and increases water stress for hundreds of millions of people (see A/HRC/10/61). 28 Flooding, landslides, extreme precipitation, tropical storms, rising sea levels and heat stress are climate change effects that will seriously impact infrastructure and sanitation services, exacerbating existing risk factors. These impacts are heightened for persons with disabilities, who already face social and economic barriers in accessing water for consumption and sanitation.29 The primary drivers of water shortages and droughts – reduced rainfall and snowpack, higher temperatures and rising sea levels – will be increased by climate change. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 6 See Sébastien Jodoin, Nilani Ananthamoorthy and Katherine Lofts “A disability rights approach to climate governance”. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. See Sébastien Jodoin, Nilani Ananthamoorthy and Katherine Lofts “A disability rights approach to climate governance”. See CBM, “Saving lives and leaving no one behind. The Gaibandha model for disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction” (2018). See David Dodman and David Satterthwaite, “Institutional capacity, climate change adaptation and the urban poor”, IDS Bulletin, vol. 39, No. 4 (September 2008). See John Twigg and others, “Disability and climate resilience: a literature review”. Ibid. See Sébastien Jodoin, Nilani Ananthamoorthy and Katherine Lofts “A disability rights approach to climate governance”.