A/HRC/37/35 22. Over the past 25 years, weather related disasters had doubled. Africa had a higher mortality rate from droughts than any other region. In 2016 alone, 36 million people faced hunger across southern and eastern Africa. Most Governments had no national agricultural plans, even the though the majority of people were dependent on subsistence farming. The capacity to adapt to climate change was limited. Environmental degradation resulting from industrial agriculture exacerbated the problems posed by climate change. A conversion to agro-ecological systems would keep carbon in the ground, support biodiversity and sustain crop yields and farm livelihoods over time. Ecological farming was a way to fight climate change. Deforestation in the Congo Basin was also a driver of climate change, poverty and species loss. Logging and industrial agriculture threatened the critical ecosystem of the Congo, its biodiversity, and the cultures, homes and livelihoods of local communities and indigenous peoples. As home of the world’s largest tropical peatland, the Congo Basin was a critically important and gravely threatened carbon sink. 23. Despite the fact that greenhouse gas emissions in Africa accounted for only 4 per cent of the world’s total, Africa was disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change. Efforts to adapt to climate change necessarily included migration, a wellestablished adaptation response in Africa. More was needed. Climate action should be fair, ambitious and binding. Africa deserved climate justice. Greenpeace Global was working to do its part to save the planet through its A Billion Acts of Courage campaign, aimed at identifying ways for people to coexist sustainably with nature. In concluding, Ms. Kabeberi called for collective courage in addressing climate change. 24. In his remarks, the National Coordinator of the Kiribati National Youth Association of NGOs, Itinterunga Rae Bainteiti, highlighted the differences between the large-scale involuntary movement of people related to conflict and other causes, and movement caused by the current climate change crisis. The continuous consumption of fossil fuels caused climate change leading to rising sea levels and other harmful consequences. Unlike refugees and other groups of people on the move who might hope eventually to return to their homes, some climate-affected persons in the Pacific may no longer have homes to return to after their migration. For some climate-affected persons, migration implied severing ties to all that was important to them. It threatened their human rights, sovereignty, culture, language, identity and well-being. 25. Climate change was the greatest human rights challenge of modern times, particularly for women, young people and children, persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups. Inaction on climate change exacerbated this existential threat to the enjoyment of the right to development by the young and future generations. When changing temperatures and cyclones destroyed food sources, people had to learn to live with less – less water, and fewer local produce. This violated their rights to life, food, water, housing, culture and identity, among others. Relocation because of climate change was a last resort. It required careful planning to ensure the dignity of all involved. The potential for future mass migrations in the Pacific demanded immediate climate action. 26. The Human Rights Council should continue to encourage the adoption of a rightsbased, people-centred approach in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The framework for resilient development in the Pacific and an integrated approach to address climate change and disaster risk management offered high-level strategic guidance to stakeholders for greater resilience to the effects of climate change and disasters that supported sustainable development. Success required international cooperation in the implementation of nationally determined contributions, and in finalizing the guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and hosting an inclusive facilitative dialogue. The National Coordinator identified the facilitative dialogue under the presidency of Fiji of the twenty-third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, implementation guidelines, gender action plans, local communities, and indigenous people’s platform, adaptation, and loss and damage as priorities that required international financing and collaboration. 27. The Pacific was home to diverse cultures, healthy forests and oceans. The world could not afford their loss. To prevent irreversible harm, all Member States should address climate change as a human rights issue and fulfil their responsibilities; human survival depended on the decisions and actions taken now. In concluding, the National Coordinator 5