A/HRC/20/7 51. Additionally, the panellists argued that a special procedure may be particularly desirable in this situation. They briefly raised the possibility of incorporating climate change into the proposed mandate on environment and human rights in order to create a synergy in these discussions. Another potential approach mentioned was streamlining the existing special-procedures mandates to include climate change and human rights. Despite these possibilities, the panellists generally considered that a new and independent special procedure on the issue was important. The existing mechanisms that might have already addressed climate change and human rights have proven insufficient. Climate change often involves silent disasters that create silent victims, and this issue is a special case requiring particular attention by an independent mandate. 52. The other recommendation of the panellists was to establish a new forum, whether annually or biennially, where States and all relevant stakeholders can engage with the issue of climate change and human rights. This forum should foster dialogue between all parties, paying particular attention to the perspectives of the communities and peoples affected by climate change. F. Closing session 53. The closing session summarized the major issues considered, the various responses offered, and specific solutions agreed during the course of the seminar. The session was moderated by Melinda Ching Simon of OHCHR. Brief summaries of the four thematic sessions were presented by the respective rapporteurs, and the session concluded with a closing address by Mary Robinson. 54. Ms. Robinson expressed the view that the discussion of climate change in a human rights context effectively brings home the severity of the impacts. Indeed, this severity of the impacts of climate change on human rights needs to be disseminated more broadly. In addition to the many effects considered at the seminar, she reflected that many of the global problems and regional conflicts being addressed by United Nations efforts in other contexts can be attributed to the unpredictability of the weather. 55. It is a great injustice that these effects are being felt primarily by developing countries that are the least responsible for causing them. Last year, approximately 250 natural disasters affected some 300 million people. Although the effects of severe weather events can be terrifying, the long-term impacts of these events present an entirely different type of challenge. In Bangladesh, recent cyclones displaced a large portion of the population residing in the area around the Bay of Bengal. Years later, the impacts continue as the water in the region now prevents the growth of traditional foods. Residents are still being displaced long after the immediate effects have disappeared. 56. Ms. Robinson concluded that a much stronger linkage is needed between the human rights and climate change communities. This linkage must focus its attention on those members of vulnerable and marginalized groups and communities that will be affected the most by climate change. 57. As one salient example, the gender dimensions of climate change must be clarified. In the developing world, it is women who will face many of the largest impacts of climate change. It is largely women who bring food to the table, who must walk further to collect firewood, and who bear the burden of trying to provide safe water for their families. Discussions of behavioural change should consider the increasing role that women must play in the future. 58. Fortunately, there are concrete ways to grow the desperately needed cooperation. The Durban Climate Change Conference in 2011 created a platform to work for a new climate regime in which all countries will participate; the human rights and justice issues 13