A/HRC/20/7 39. The human rights-based approach would allow the climate change community to proactively address the impacts of climate change on human rights such as the rights to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, adequate housing, food and safe drinking water and sanitation, among others. A human rights-based approach would assist with operationalizing such initiatives by providing a realistic assessment of the gaps in current mitigation and adaptation policies. 40. In addition, the panellists noted that further emphasis needs to be paid to the collective but differentiated responsibilities of States in the response to the extraterritorial impacts of climate change. To address the responsibilities, the international community could consider mechanisms to ensure the accountability of developed countries responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and to enable some form of recourse for those disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change. 41. A number of approaches to further facilitate cooperation between the human rights and climate change communities in the future were suggested including by focusing on capacity building, utilizing existing legal mechanisms and organizations, and integration through impact assessments. 42. Capacity-building will require institutionalizing cooperation between the human rights and climate change communities. To accomplish this, the Human Rights Council must continue to facilitate dialogue between the two communities. United Nations agencies should undertake efforts to mainstream a human rights-based approach to climate change in their analyses and methodologies. UNFPA and WHO were specifically mentioned as important agencies for facilitating this interaction, but the panel clarified that every United Nations agency should engage a human rights-based approach. It was further proposed that a seminar or workshop on climate change and human rights be held as a side event at COP18 in December 2012. 43. The panellists also explained that existing legal mechanisms could be utilized to mainstream a human rights-based approach to climate change. Specifically, they proposed creation of a special procedure and utilization of treaty-based mechanisms as means of applying human rights to this environmental problem. The possibility of merely revising the existing mandates was raised in relation to a potential special procedure, but the majority of panellists preferred creating a new mandate for this issue. Some of the panellists recommended the development of a new legal instrument on climate change and human rights, while other panellists noted that the historic difficulty of developing and achieving consensus on such an agreement might make this solution impractical due to the urgency of the situation. 44. To supplement the mechanisms available through international organizations and treaties, panellists raised the possibility of advancing the climate change and human rights platform through litigation. Examples of tactics employed included the recent Inuit petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the successful efforts by the Federated States of Micronesia to have a transboundary assessment conducted for a power plant in the Czech Republic. The panellists cautioned that litigation is not by itself a sufficient means of achieving a human rights-based approach to climate change, but noted that the impact of these cases was noticeably greater than the lawsuits themselves, due to their capacity to create public dialogue about the issues and the peoples affected. 45. Finally, the panellists highlighted the value of impact assessments on human rights. The mainstream discourse on the environmental effects of climate change has long utilized environmental impact assessments. By utilizing an identical approach to evaluate the human consequences, the human rights community can more effectively contribute to the knowledge-driven approach embraced by the climate science community. Further, a human rights impact assessment allows for the seamless integration of a human rights-based 11