A/HRC/16/43 displacement.9 Yet, as pointed out by an OHCHR report in 2009, very tangible rights are potentially impacted by climate change including, inter alia, the right to life, water, food, health, and housing. In this context, internally displaced persons remain entitled to the range of human rights, including protection from arbitrary displacement, and to rights related to housing and property restitution which are so vital to durable solutions.10 It is estimated that many millions of people may be forcibly displaced due to climate change in the coming decades.11 62. Practical issues, including housing, land and property rights and livelihood, which are all necessary for sustainable and durable solutions, will become even more dominant issues in this type of displacement. Indeed, with the irreversible effects (in the immediate future) of certain phenomena such as the loss of arable land or biodiversity, finding durable solutions for displaced communities may become a key challenge. Adopting a human rights approach to climate change-induced displacement provides an internationally accepted framework within which to begin a dialogue and identify rights based solutions for these difficult issues. However, further work is necessary in this regard. 63. The IDP mandate has helped to trigger and shape the IASC analysis of the humanitarian implications of climate change, which resulted in shared terminology on different affected populations and a common understanding of the normative frameworks for their protection and the legal and institutional gaps. This work culminated in joint advocacy efforts on the humanitarian implications of climate change in the 2009 Copenhagen negotiations on a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.12 The Special Rapporteur will continue to work closely with all stake holders to explore and develop the connections between existing frameworks on climate change, international human rights law, the Guiding Principles and other relevant guidance documents or instruments – with the objective of contributing to a clearer conceptual foundation and normative framework. The mandate will also continue to work with counterparts at all levels in order to strengthen the response to the many human rights challenges posed by climate-induced displacement, including through mutual knowledge sharing, which is considered a key aspect of addressing climate change issues.13 64. Human rights obligations engage State responsibility before disaster strikes as well in its aftermath. In the case of climate change and environmental destruction, due diligence 9 10 11 12 13 Displacement Solutions (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ)), Climate Change Displaced persons and Housing, Land and Property Rights: Preliminary Strategies for Rights-based planning and Programming to Resolve Climate-Induced Displacement, 2009, p. 6. Available at: http://www.displacementsolutions.org/files/documents/DS_Climate_change_strategies.pdf Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the relationship between climate change and human rights, A/HRC/10/61, 15 January 2009, para, 8-15, 57. Climate Change Displaced persons, p.6. See Forced Displacement in the Context of Climate Change : Challenges for States under International Law, Paper submitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in cooperation with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Representative of the Secretary General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and the United Nations University to the 6th session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 6) from 1-12 June in Bonn, 19 May 2009; and working paper on “Climate change, migration and displacement: Who will be affected?” submitted by the informal group on Migration/Displacement and Climate Change of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), 31 October 2008 to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2008/smsn/igo/022.pdf IASC, 78th IASC Working Group Meeting: IASC Task Force on Climate Change: Progress Report and Way Forward, 27 October 2010, WO/1010/360/7, p.3. 15