A/HRC/20/7 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 18/22, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to convene a seminar on addressing the adverse impacts of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights, with a view to following up on the call for respecting human rights in all climate change-related actions and policies, and forging stronger interface and cooperation between the human rights and climate change communities. The Council requested the Office to invite States and other relevant stakeholders, including academic experts, civil society organizations and representatives of those segments of the population most vulnerable to climate change, to participate actively in the seminar. The Council further requested OHCHR to invite the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help organize the seminar, informed by the best available science, including the assessment reports and special reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2. In the resolution, the Council also requested the Office to submit at its twentieth session a summary report on the seminar, including any recommendations stemming therefrom, for consideration of further follow-up action. Moreover, it requested that the Office make the summary report available to the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC at its the eighteenth session (COP18). II. Seminar 3. The seminar to address the adverse impacts of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights was organized by OHCHR in consultation with Member States, a range of experts and civil society representatives. It was held in Geneva on 23 and 24 February 2012. Interpretation was provided in English, French and Spanish. The seminar agenda included six sessions: an introductory session, four thematic sessions and a closing session. The introductory session framed the two-day discussion; session 1 dealt with the adverse impacts of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights and their inter-linkages; session 2 focused on international cooperation and respect for human rights in all climate change-related situations; session 3 discussed possibilities for forging stronger cooperation between human rights and climate change communities; session 4 considered various opportunities and avenues for future progress. Finally, the closing session heard the summaries of sessions 1 through 4, presented by the respective rapporteurs, and a closing address. The seminar was attended by at least 85 interested States, along with a number of United Nations agencies, academics as well as intergovernmental and civil society organizations. A. Introductory session 4. The introductory session was opened by the President of the Human Rights Council, who provided an overview of the progression of events leading up to the seminar, including Council resolution 7/23 (March 2008) and the resulting analytical study on the relationship between climate change and human rights; resolution 10/4 (March 2009), and the resulting panel on the relationship between climate change and human rights; and the Human Rights Council’s 2010 Social Forum (October 2010) on the adverse effects of climate change on human rights. The President also noted that an analytical study on the relationship between 3