A/HRC/32/24 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to its resolution 29/15, the Human Rights Council held on 3 March 2016 on the adverse impact of climate change on progressively realize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the standard of physical and mental health and related policies, lessons practices. a panel discussion States’ efforts to highest attainable learned and good 2. The panel discussion was chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council. It opened with a statement by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kate Gilmore, which was followed by a keynote address from the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Margaret Chan.1 3. The meeting provided an opportunity for States, international organizations and other relevant stakeholders to discuss the impact of climate change on the enjoyment of the right to health with a focus on facilitating effective action to tackle climate change-related health impacts through the exchange of knowledge and good practices between expert panellists, States, international organizations and other relevant stakeholders. 4. The panel was moderated by the Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Trung Thanh Nguyen. The panellists included the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Dainius Pūras; the Under-Secretary of the Department of Health of the Philippines, Lilibeth C. David; Chair of the International Union for Nutritional Sciences task force for climate and nutrition, Cristina Tirado; and the Coordinator of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim. II. Opening session 5. The Deputy High Commissioner observed that the Paris Agreement, adopted at the twenty-first Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, stood out as a landmark achievement and an essential milestone in the long struggle to rally humanity to defeat the scourge of climate change. The Agreement provided a specific focus on respecting and promoting human rights, including the right to health, in all climate actions. The year 2015 was the hottest year on record but it was also the year when the international community finally acknowledged its common responsibility to mitigate and adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change. Its effects threatened lives, devastated communities, wrecked local economies and eradicated traditions and cultures. 6. The Deputy High Commissioner stated that climate change endangered the underlying determinants of health at every level and disproportionately affected those who have the least, namely, women, children, older persons, indigenous peoples, minorities, migrants, rural workers, persons with disabilities and the poor, thus exacerbating existing threats to their lives and livelihoods. 7. She noted, for example, that women suffered higher rates of mortality as a consequence of natural disasters and that there was a direct correlation observed between women’s status in society and their likelihood of receiving adequate health care in times of 1 2 Full statements of the Deputy High Commissioner, the Director-General and all panellists, and the concept note for the panel and additional relevant information, are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/HRAndClimateChange/Pages/StudyImpact.aspx.